Nightmare
by BirdRATM
Summary: Umbrella is done... But a renegade worker has started a new Organization... Evil has returned, and it has never been better... How will two friends, seeing each other for the first time, survive this epic battle against all Evil?
1. Day One: Prologue

**I hope you all know a little about Resident Evil and its storyline, or else you really won't get it… If you don't get it, then just follow along… I'll try to describe the virus' and such more if a lot of people say they don't get it… **

**Yeah, it is a bit weird… But that was what I was going for **

June 28, 2011.

Dear Diary,

It has been about five years since Umbrella has collapsed… Ever since then, I have been working vigorously to revive a similar Organization… The name of this Organization, along with the names of any of my Workers, will not be spoken of in this Diary, for security purposes of course. I have created this Diary so I can reflect upon it after the events that may unfold after it…

Let's go over exactly what I have done in the past:

I have successfully recovered numerous amounts of the three main viral agents, the same ones Umbrella used on its guinea pigs, using my team of assorted assassins. The only one that I couldn't find would be the _Las Plagas…_ I don't have much interest in this virus, anyway… At least at this time…

I haven't changed any of their names, (them being the T-Virus, G-Virus, and the Progenitor Virus) since I have admired them so much.

You are probably wondering how I even know about Umbrella, its viral agents, or how I even got them. Well… Let's just say I was involved with Umbrella. Not entirely, such as people like William Birkin or James Marcus or Ozwell Spencer or Albert Wesker, but I was a small part of it. I have all the documents and information I need to create an Organization similar to that of Umbrella… I have the _power_…

I have contact with many people who were involved with Umbrella, as well. Most of them are all part of my team. Some have decided to make their own branch, or start a new life…

Along with ex-Umbrella members, my Workers also consist of doctors and such that heavily believed in Umbrella. Since Umbrella covered up the explosion so well, speaking nothing further of the virus' and allowing rumors to flow frequently, these people are very rare.

My team of assassins are just hired mercenaries… A few of them were involved with the U.S.S and U.B.C.S teams, however…

Anyway, enough about me… Let's discuss how I am about to spread the T-Virus throughout the world!

Well, let's just say that the Headquarters aren't located on the Target Point. The Headquarters aren't even located in the same country!

Back on track… I have sent my team into the Target Point to spread the virus in a similar fashion in the events of Raccoon City: The Sewers. They placed the virus in The Sewers, allowing rats to get infected with the T-Virus. In turn, the rats would infect humans, and anything else it would bite. This epidemic has worked before, and I decided to try it again, though it did seem a bit cliché when I was building my initial plans…

Along with this, a few people have devoted their lives to science, and they have allowed me to infect them with the T-Virus, and place them in certain locations within the Target Point. Within a few hours, they would transform into zombies…

One of the major people who had sacrificed their lives was scheduled to go onto a plane with this infection. However, I don't know how that turned out, as he never returned any of my calls… I suppose he was feeling a little mellow, or his transformation happened a bit too soon…

Muhaha!

Well, Diary, I have research to do, orders to give out, and Weapons to construct. I will report to you whenever I find out anything else…

Let's see if they will believe it now!

_The Owner…_


	2. Day One: The Arrival

Welcome! This story was written back in 2004, but never published on this site. I have fixed it up greatly, adding more details and fixing many errors… I would like to thank my "personal" editor, Cyram, and myself for being so great…

There will only be seven chapters in this story. You will see why as you read on…

The story is set in 2011, so things are obviously different.

Read up! A new chapter should be up tomorrow, or tonight…I just have to fix up it up, give it to my editor and edit it myself. Hope you enjoy it!

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So, tonight is going to be a good night, as I will be meeting up with one of my friends from the Internet. I've known him for many years, but we never actually met. His name is James, but I call him Cyram, as that is his nickname. We would meet here in my hometown, Sayreville. Cyram was twenty, and I am twenty-one. This is going to be the first time that I will be meeting him, so it should be fun. For tonight, we plan on watching some movies, playing some video games, getting dinner, and possibly hit the bar or something. I am waiting for him at the airport... I am holding up a ridiculous sign that has the word "Cyram" on it. I feel like an idiot, but how else is the guy going to notice me? An airplane arrives at the airport, and all of the passengers exit the airplane.

All of the passengers on the plane quickly walk by me. I am standing in front of everyone, so it should be pretty much impossible for him to miss me. I guess that wasn't his plane. Greetings and happy voices are being exchanged behind me. Everyone seemed to be out of the plane, but it was still there. Out of nowhere, an ambulance comes driving towards the plane, and the paramedics hop out of it. They rush up the air plane stairs and enter. I hear screams coming from inside the plane…

The vibration of my cell phone startles me, as I was still glaring at the airplane, waiting for someone to come out.

"Hello?" I say in the cell phone, wondering who was on the other end.

''Hey! I am going be a little late, maybe a couple of more minutes. Not sure,'' Cyram says. I hadn't heard his voice in a while, so it startled me. Nobody has exited the airplane as of yet.

''That's all right, I have all day. Heh, I took the whole week off just to hang out with you,'' I said to him. He gave out a quiet chuckle.

''Okay, see you there,'' he said hanging up. I then flipped up my phone and put it back into my pocket. I was still anticipating the people from the airplane to come out.

About five minutes later, another plane comes into view. The plane was nose diving at extreme speeds, almost straight down to the ground.

''Holy shit!'' I screamed. The people behind me all started screaming, murmuring, and gasping. The plane crashes, a few hundred feet before the first plane. Everyone started to run over to the crash, but I could do nothing but stand in astonishment. I call up Cyram's cell phone. No answer, I started to think, and picture, terrible things. _Is he dead? Was that his plane? _

I decided to wait. I went a little closer to where the crashed plane was. More ambulances came driving in quickly. The whole plane was in flames. A fire engine was heard in the background…

About ten minutes later, another plane comes into view. This one was going much slower than the one that had crashed. The plane lands far away from the other two, obviously noticing that landing near them was no good. The passengers take a while to file out, obviously taking a look over at the flames. Some passengers come running towards the airport, while others walk away slowly, staring at the flames. The people, who had run to the plane earlier, crammed into the airport screaming and hollering. Some of them ran right out of the exit, some came to the people who were waiting for them, some stayed to watch. None of them, however, were Cyram. There were still people outside, so hope is still here. I saw one of them look straight at me, and then started running over. I figured this was Cyram, but I could be wrong.

He came running in, walking straight to me. He smiled, and walked right by me and started to talk to the person behind me. I let out a long, drawn out sigh. Looking over at the other plane, I noticed that the ambulance finally started to move out of there. The firefighters started to take out the fire on the downed plane, as a few security guards walked out towards the crowd of people. They started to signal to the door, as the P.A. came on.

"We are going to be shutting down the airport. Please leave and go home as soon as possible," an old lady said over the P.A. She started to go on about exits, and what to do if you are waiting for a flight or people from the flight. I tuned her out, as everyone started to file back inside. I put the sign up, nice and high, hoping that he would show up.

"Everyone has to get out, now!" a security guard screamed. One of the passengers pushed one of the guards out of his way, and made his way towards me. He was carrying two suitcases. I gave a quick look behind me to make sure there was not anyone else behind me. "You have to get out!" the security guard behind the man said towards us.

"We better get the hell out of here before things get worse," Cyram said to me. Nice greeting, but it was necessary.

"Yeah… Follow me to the parking lot before that security guard attacks us," I said trying to lighten up the mood.

"That's the least of my worries. A plane just crashed outside. A _plane_; that doesn't happen very often at an airport," he said, as we headed toward the parking lot.

"Yeah, I know. I actually saw it happen. It scared the shit out of me, I thought it was you. I called up your cell phone to see if it was you or not… No answer." He started to say something, but I couldn't understand him. The place was very loud, with sirens and P.A. announcements, screaming people, yelling security guards, crazy. "Let's talk later, we gotta get to my car first," I said to him, trying to project my voice loud enough for him to hear me. He didn't respond, as we made our way to the parking lot.

After seven minutes of trekking out of the airport, we finally entered the parking lot. The parking lot was about as noisy, if not more, than the airport itself. We were in the bottom level of the parking lot, and my car was up on the third level.

"Okay… That was crazy," Cyram said as we entered the stairwell up to the second floor. It was actually hearable in here.

"Agreed. Car's up on the third floor," I said practically running up the stairs. We reached the second floor. The second floor parking lot was absolutely full. The noise was unbearable. I almost decided to turn around and go back, but other people were coming up the stairs. Why the hell would the stairwell break off at every floor…? I searched for the stairwell up to the third floor. It was all the way on the other side of the parking lot. We made our way to the other side of the parking lot, pushing people out of the way and dodging terrible drivers. I pushed the door open to the third floor stairwell.

"Almost there," I said reassuringly to Cyram.

"Yeah… I just can't wait to get out of this place… It's crazy!"

"You always were a bad luck charm," I said to him with a chuckle.

"Oh just shut up and get us to your car."

I pushed open the door leading to the third floor parking lot. This one wasn't as packed as the second floor. I spotted my car just as I opened up the door, which is very rare.

"There it is," I said, pointing at my '06 3000 GT. I've been in love with that car since I was a kid playing Gran Turismo. It's a shame they stopped making those games… The car was jet black, with black rims and leather interior. It was high class. I never thought about getting a newer car… But this one is only five years old. I got it used back in '09.

"Pretty fucking ridiculous, but, nice car either way," Cyram said. I opened up the trunk, and he threw his two suitcases in. Then, I unlocked the passenger's side door for Cyram, and ran around to open up my door. I quickly started up the engine.

"Alright, let's check out the news," I said to Cyram.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea. I wonder what happened out there…" I turned on the radio, and put on my favorite news station. I haven't really noted Cyram's appearance yet. I never saw what he looked like. He had white skin, with hazel eyes and bushy brown hair. He was quite taller than me, which is something that I wasn't used to, being six foot one. A lady on the news team said that there was an important announcement:

"At the Newark Airport, there were two accidents. Both of them are major, but the most important one is a plane crash. Everyone on the plane died besides one person. The pilot had abnormal bite marks around his neck and shoulder area. There was a passenger right next to him on the ground, who was the lone survivor. We don't know what exactly happened, but scientists are inspecting the pilot as we speak. We will update you later when we find out exactly what happened. In the other accident, a passenger was injured on another plane, which landed before the one that crashed. When the paramedics and police officers entered the plane to help out the injured man, a passenger lunged at the leading paramedic and bit him in the neck. The police shot him down to the ground. The paramedic's condition, as well as the injured passenger, is still uncertain. The passenger had weird scratch marks and bite marks all over him. And that is all for this special update."

"What the…," Cyram said with a look of thought on his face. We had just exited the parking lot at the end of the message.

"I don't understand," I said, thinking as well. I glanced at the clock, which read 7:30 P.M.

"I guess he was hungry… Or he was trying to imitate a zombie…"

"I don't know… This isn't Resident Evil, you know," I said to him, sensing his joke.

"Yeah, yeah… I know… But still, what the hell."

"Well, I think we should just try to forget about it and stay indoors for the rest of the night. See what happens tomorrow morning."

"Yeah… But a plane crash… An insane passenger… All during my arrival? It is kind of hard to ignore that, do you get what I am trying to say?"

"Yeah, I feel your pain. You want to just go straight to my house or do you want to stop somewhere for something to eat?" I asked him, trying my best to change the subject.

"I think going to your house would be the best idea. I have lost my appetite for the time being," he said. His voice was a bit shaky. What can I say to make him stop thinking about all that stuff? He was born in New York… But he lived in Arkansas for a bunch of years. After hearing the stories he told me about New York, I figured he would be able to get over this. I guess that's what Arkansas does to you… I took the turnpike home, doing fifteen miles over the sixty-five speed limit. This would lead to double fines, but I don't think the cops would stop on their way to the airport to give me a ticket.

The car was completely silent for the half-hour that it took to get to my house.

"Here we are," I said to Cyram breaking the silence.

"Good… I almost passed out," he said taking a yawn. He did look pretty tired, but who could blame him? I pulled quickly into the driveway, turned off the car and got out. I went around and opened the trunk, grabbing one of Cyram's two suitcases. He got out slowly and took the second one. I shut the trunk slowly, and made my way to the back door. It was still kind of light outside, so my keys were visible. I forgot to leave the outside lights on. Thank god for summer. I unlocked the back door, and bumped it open, holding it open so Cyram could get in. "I have a question, why do you open the door with your key and not with the thing on the key-chain, _or_ the trunk? What century are you in?"

"The remote on the key-chain is busted… I gotta get a new one… Anyway, let me bring you to the guest room," I said to him, leading him out of the kitchen. The house had one floor and a basement. The kitchen, living room, bathroom, and master bedroom were on the first floor. The basement held the boiler room, guestroom, and washer and dryer machine. The house was small, but it was good enough to fit my needs. I opened up the door leading to the basement, and went down the stairs. From the end point of the stairs, the washer and dryer and boiler room were to the right, while the guestroom was to the left. Another door was there to secure privacy. I opened up that door, and led him inside.

"Alright," Cyram said.

"Yeah… Could be better… I'll give you some time to settle in, come up when you are ready," I said to him, putting his suitcase on the ground.

"Ok then, is there a bathroom anywhere down here?"

"Yeah, that's what that door is for," I said pointing at the door on the far end of the guestroom.

"Ok, then I shall retreat to that room for a moment"

"If you need anything, just yell."

"Okay," he said as I left the basement. I walked up the stairs, and headed to the bathroom, which faced you as you opened the basement door. I took a leak, flushed the toilet, and went to my room to see if I had any messages. I made a left right when I exited the bathroom, and my room was to the right when you reached the end of the hall. I opened up the door to my room, and noticed that I had no messages. I then kicked my shoes off, and headed to the kitchen for a soda. From the bedroom, you make a left and follow the hall down. The kitchen is right there. I grabbed a root beer from the bottom of the refrigerator, and then headed to the living room. To get to the living room, you make a right as soon as you leave the kitchen. I sat down on the couch, and thought about turning on my forty-two inch plasma television. Everything in me wanted to turn on the news, but I didn't want to upset Cyram anymore than he is now. I heard the basement steps creaking as he walked up.

"Grab something from the fridge if you want anything," I said to him sipping at my root beer. I hadn't turned on the television yet, I decided it would be a good idea to ask him what he wanted to do first. He came in with a root beer.

"Okay," he came in scratching his head. "So I _do_ have your permission to go into the fridge. I'm pretty hungry now, though."

"Of course you have permission to go into the fridge… What the hell do I care? Anyway, what do you want?"

"I don't know; whatever you want."

"No, the guest always picks what he wants to eat. I don't feel like cooking, so I was thinking about some fast food thing, unless you wanted to go out for something."

"Pizza is fine… And you don't have any alcohol!"

"Well… I ran out the other day and didn't realize it. I'll pick some up tomorrow… Pizza sounds good!" I said getting up off the couch. "Make yourself at home, turn on whatever you want."

"Okay, thanks." I walked out of the living room and walked quickly to the bedroom. Thinking ahead, I turned back around and went back to Cyram.

"What do you like on your pizza?" I asked him.

"Pineapple and Canadian ham," he said. I had never heard of either of them on a pizza before. I hoped they had it…

"Odd toppings for odd people…," I said to him with a laugh. I walked out into my room again, and picked up the phone. I pressed the hot key for the pizzeria.

"Hello, this is Pizza Heaven. What can I get you?" a man said on the other side of the phone.

"Hi, I want to place a delivery," I said to him.

"Okay, what would you like?"

"I would like one large half plain, half pineapple and Canadian ham pizza, light on the sauce," I said, almost laughing at Cyram's half.

"Was that pineapple and Canadian ham?" he said. He sounded quite serious.

"Yes, do you have those toppings?"

"We sure do. Now, what is your phone number and address?" I told the man my phone number and address, and he said that it should be ready and at my door in twenty-five minutes. I returned the living room, and found that the news was on and Cyram's mouth was agape. "Should be ready in twenty-five minutes," I said hanging at the doorstep. "Why are you watching this shit?"

"I wanted to check for an update, and I like the weather," he said.

"I told you that we should let it go until tomorrow morning. They aren't going to have any results or updates until then."

"Alright, I just wanted to know…"

"Yeah, well… Don't worry about it. Now, what do you want to do for the rest of the night? I got XBOX Three and a crap load of movies."

"Hmph… Well, we _do _have pizza on the way… So I say we play some video games until the pizza gets here, then take a break and eat, and then play some more,"

"Sounds good. Which game do you want to play? I would assume you would want to play my newest game… HALO Four!" I said laughing.

"Yeah, haven't got much playtime on that one yet." I set up the XBOX three, and popped in HALO Four.

About forty-five minutes later, the pizza arrives twenty minutes late.

"Sorry I'm late, but we got stuck in traffic. Hear about the air port business?" the delivery guy, said to me.

"Yeah, it's a shame. How much is it?" I said to the guy. He had dark skin, but blonde hair. Looked like he was younger than I.

"Twelve bucks." I dug in my pocket, and pulled out a twenty.

"Keep the change," I said to him with a smile.

"Wow, thanks a lot!" he said.

"Yeah, have a good night," I said shutting the door.

"You too!" he said just as I shut the door. I heard the car rev up, and he sped off. Probably was busy tonight.

"Oho" Cyram said dropping the controller for the XBOX Three. "I love my pizza combination, hope they didn't screw it up!"

I gave out a chuckle and said, "Yeah. This isn't cold, though." I said bringing the pizza box into the kitchen and getting out some plates.

"Looks pretty good," Cyram, said grabbing a slice of his pineapple-Canadian ham pizza.

"Yep, best in town," I said grabbing two new root beers and a slice of plain pizza.

"So… How did you get off a week during the summer, I'm only off college for the summer and I used some of my saved vacation time for my job," he said, talking with his mouth full.

"Well, I actually planned this out a while ago. I don't take many days off, so it worked out almost perfectly. One problem: I'll be staying there pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday."

"Wow… That's gonna suck!"

"Yeah… How'd you take off again?"

"Well, no one hates me at my job, almost, and I have _never_ taken a day off and actually work more hours then I am supposed to, so my vacation time added up quickly and I used that. Like the rest of my family, I am a work-a-holic."

"Tell me about it," I said. Cyram had finished a slice just as I finished. We both grabbed another slice and started devouring it. "Good, eh?"

"Very," he said with his mouth full. We sat quiet for a time. He finished his second slice about a minute before me this time. "Well since I'm not worrying about my diet, think we can finish through the whole pie in one night?" he asked with a grin.

"Oh, definitely. We still got a movie to watch," I said laughing.

"Yea, and I still have to kick your ass in HALO!"

"Pfft… You haven't beat me yet, and we played four games."

"Don't worry, I haven't gotten as much playtime as you, _plus _I got your strategies in my mind already. I'll get you before the night is over!" I glanced up at the clock, which read 10:37 P.M.

I let out a laugh, "It's ten thirty, but I can stay up all night. What do I have to wake up for?"

"That late already?"

"Yep… Time flies when you're having fun, eh?" I finished my third slice before him this time. I was on my fourth.

"Eh, guess so," he said finishing his third slice and grabbing for his fourth. I was half way done with mine.

"My stomach is starting to hurt… But it's too friggin' good for me to stop eating it…"

"Ha, I know what you mean, I still miss New York pizza, though," he said, devouring his slice. I finally finished mine, and he finished about thirty seconds after me.

"Okay… So what movie do you want to watch?" I said putting the plates into the sink.

"Err… What do you have?"

"Go look in the living room, right under the TV"

"Okay," he said getting up. I started to wash the two plates. After washing them two, I took the pizza box and broke it up.

"Be right back," I called out to him walking outside with the pizza box in my hands. I put it in the recycling and came back inside. It was nearly pitch black outside now. Cyram was at the back door when I entered the room. "What's the matter?" His hands were behind his back. He slowly took his hands from behind his back, and put a DVD right in front of my face.

"Resident Evil: Damnation!" he exclaimed.

"Did you _have _to pick that movie?" I asked him, snatching it out of his hands and walking towards the DVD player in the living room.

"Yes. It is my favorite movie… Ever! And I have only seen it four times…"

"It came out last month…"

"Exactly!"

"Alright, alright… Get me a water bottle and get yourself something," I said walking into the living room to put it in. "Damn! This movie is three hours long?"

"Yep!" he called out from the kitchen.

"That will take us up to one thirty…," I said putting it into the DVD player.

"Yeah, I will probably be too hyper by then so, I'll kill you tomorrow," he said walking into the living room.

I laughed and said, "Yeah, okay," he tossed the water bottle to me. I pressed play, and the movie started to play.

Three hours and ten minutes later, 2:02 A.M.

"I love that movie, now I'm currently going to go pass out," Cyram said getting up, stretching and yawning.

"Alright… Get some rest, I have a big day planned tomorrow," I said to him.

"Ohhh, _wonderful_! I guess you just went and did a little too much planning, didn't you? How nice," he said laughing.

"Don't be a smart ass… You know where everything is down there, right?"

"Yea."

"You going to be alright?"

"No, I want you to sleep with me," he said laughing.

I laughed along with him, "Alright, I'll be right down… See you in the morning."

"Good night," he said going down into the bathroom. I let out a short sigh, and went into my bedroom to get my pajamas. I got a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and headed to the bathroom. I changed into my pajamas, took a pee that I have been holding for about an hour, and brushed my teeth. I started to turn out all of the lights, besides the bathroom one. I shut the bathroom door slightly, but left it about half way open, just incase he comes up here or if I have to pee in the middle of the night. I normally do this, anyway. I went into my bedroom, shut my door, and got into bed. I glared at the clock, which said 2:17 A.M. I was going to set my alarm, but I figured he would pull some prank to wake me up. I started to think about the whole airport incident. I shook my head, rolled over, and pulled all of the thoughts out of my mind. Well… Almost all of them.


	3. Day Two: A Day of Firsts

Sorry for the long time between updates… I normally hate to do that… I have thought up of a new plan: Remember that whole "there will only be seven chapters" deal I had before? Well, I crumbled that up, and threw it in the trash. If I were to continue and make this chapter the WHOLE second day, it would take another week PLUS it would be over fifteen thousand words probably. So, I have decided to make small (around four thousand…) chapters, which gives me the option for cliff hangers! I hope you guys love cliff hangers… Because I do…

Yeah… So, enjoy it… Also, if you are reading this… Please review… I have, at the time of this update, thirty-three hits… And four reviews… I would highly appreciate everyone who reads to review… I finally made it so you can review without registering, so if you haven't registered yet, you can review…

Also, thanks to Cyram for ideas and for editing, and deathbyhugs for the new summary, if you guys didn't notice... I'm not much of a summary maker... And, thanks to all of you punks who take time to actually read what I have to write...

Alright, alright… Before I write a story for my little introduction… Here is the story…

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The ring of the telephone, which was much louder than what it normally was, jumped into my dreams and pulled me back to reality. I fumbled around on the nightstand for the phone. _This better be good,_ I thought just before I pressed the Talk button.

"Hello?" I said. My voice was obviously low and drawn out, since I did just wake up. But what could the person on the other end expect calling me, of all people, early in the morning? I didn't know what time it was yet, as I hadn't opened up my eyes yet, but I figured it was early. Silence was all that was heard on the other side of the phone. "Hello?" I repeated again, a little louder, just incase they didn't hear me the first time. Silence. "Hello?" I repeated once more, getting louder. A low click was heard on the other side, as the dial tone rung in my ears. I slammed the phone back on the receiver and thought about trying to go back to sleep. I glanced over at the clock, which read 11:32 A.M. Cyram was most likely up, knowing him. My nickname may be Bird, but I surely wasn't an early Bird.

I kicked the covers off of me, and rolled out of bed. I made my way slowly, and wobbly, out of the bedroom. I nearly tripped over my shoes, which were placed where I kicked them last night. Right in front of the door way.

"Good going," I said to myself, aloud. I tend to talk to myself whenever I do something stupid, or mess up on things. Normally it is a curse word, but I've tried to calm my cursing down since I was about fifteen. I used to curse pretty much every other word… So, I decided that I would quit one day. Sad thing is, nobody told me how hard it was to quit. Kinda like smoking.

I opened up the bedroom door, and walked over to the bathroom. Cyram wasn't in the living room, nor the kitchen. I didn't hear him downstairs, so there was a slight chance that he was sleeping. The bathroom light was still on, and the door was opened the same way it was last night, which is abnormal. The wind normally moves it. I suppose that signifies that it is a nice day out, eh?

I closed the bathroom door, which always makes a loud sound. If Cyram was listening for me to be awake, he just got his cue. I turned on the sink, putting it all the way on cold. I began my "morning ritual" by cupping my hands under the freezing cold water that was coming from the sink. I put my head near the sink, and splashed myself in the face, in an effort to wake up. The splash was so refreshing, especially since it was hot as heck last night. I let the water drip from my face over the sink for a few moments, and then I made my way to the toilet and took a long, morning piss. This also felt refreshing. To conclude my "morning ritual", I took out my toothbrush, applied some toothpaste, and began brushing my teeth. Everything else from here varied. I spit out the remainder of the toothpaste, and exited the bathroom, turning off the light.

I was hoping to be greeted by Cyram just opening the door, but the closed door stood there laughing in my face. I actually stood there for a time, staring back at the door. I let out a short chuckle, but the telephone ring ruined my moment. I dashed towards my room, jumped over my bed, which sort of divided the room, and took the phone in my hands.

"Hello?" I said to the phone hoping that it was an actual person this time.

"'Ello, mate," a familiar voice said on the other end.

"Hey, Colomb," I said, figuring it was him. His real name was Christian, but we all called him Colomb. The name originated from his native country, Colombia, even though he says he wasn't born there. He really wasn't, but we all tease him about it, for some odd reason. Childhood moments that just stuck to us. "You didn't happen to call a few minutes ago, did you?" I said glancing at the clock, which said 11:46 A.M.

"Umm… No… I just wanted to see if we were still doing what we planned on today," he said, with some uncertainty.

"Oh, of course! Cyram is going to be thrilled to see you," I said with some major sarcasm. I was a very sarcastic individual. I used sarcasm in pretty much everything. He let out a small chuckle.

"Alright, I'll be there around one."

"Yeah, on the dot. You better not be late…," I sarcastically threatened him. If he came a little late, I wouldn't care, but that normally gets them here on time.

"I won't be, you stupid German. See ya," he said hanging up. To this day, I still don't understand his logic by him calling me a "stupid German." Along with calling me German, he calls me a Jew and a Nazi. I am about fifteen percent German, I'm Catholic, and I wasn't alive during the Nazi regime. I think he calls me a Nazi because I am a little German, but not all Germans were Nazis. Then again, I do have blue eyes and I used to have light colored hair, so I suppose I could have been part of the Aryan race… And the fact that I have Neo Nazi Skin Head like hair didn't help my cause either… But still…

As I finished pondering, I put the phone back on the receiver and thought about the first interaction between Colomb and Cyram in a long time. They were fierce, I use that term loosely, rivals back when we were teenagers. Colomb called Cyram a stupid, fat, gay guy from Arkansas, while Cyram took it and laughed about it. I suppose the reason why Colomb kept calling him that, along with many other names, was because Cyram didn't really care what he had to say. I joined Colomb in the bombardment a lot, but I have learned better of it. They never could prove anything to each other, since they did live a few thousand miles away from each other, but between the arguments, they said that they would fight if they ever met. It was very comical, and Colomb would get into it a lot of the times, while Cyram didn't really acknowledge it. They are meeting for the first time today, around one o'clock, so it should be a blast.

I heard the creaking on the basement stairs. I loved how the stairs creaked, gave me a good sense of when someone was coming up from below. They have been creaky ever since I moved in, but I never bothered fixing it. You never know when an assassin will break into your basement, and walk up in an attempt to kill you…

I hopped over the bed, out of the room, and met Cyram just as he opened up the basement steps.

"Was not expecting you to be awake this early," he said with a look of surprise on his face.

"Yeah, I've been up for a while now. Some solicitor called me up before around eleven thirty and woke me up," I explained to him.

"Oh, I can imagine how that angered you, you of all people love to sleep for around twelve hours...," he said with a chuckle.

"Yes, I was very mad. I figured you were up – "

"Yeah, I have been up for about two hours," he said cutting me off.

"What have you been doing?" I asked him, ignoring that he cut me off. That's one of many things that you can do to make me angry.

"Well, I just woke up, watched the weather, and then just flipped through looking at the channels you have available.

"I see," I said. I very rarely watched television programs. I use my television mostly for gaming, and for some movies. I watched the news sometimes, but I think it's all just a hoax.

"So, what is for breakfast then?"

"Umm… I was thinking about going out for something, but if you wanted to eat here that's fine by me."

"Hmph, should we not watch the news then for some more information on what occurred last night?" I figured he already watched the news, or just forgot about it. I suppose both assumptions were wrong. Well, you know what they say about assuming…

"Alright, let's watch the news and then go out for pancakes or something."

"Yokay then!" he said turning to the living room. He plopped down at the far end of the couch, and sat down at the near end. I grabbed the remote, turned on the plasma, and put on the news quickly. "Let's just hope we haven't missed the update."

"I'm pretty sure they will be talking about this all day. The news tends to wring their stories dry until there is nothing left to it," I said. Besides sarcasm, I enjoyed using metaphors and similes. Just some of the effects from over a dozen years of literature and English courses.

"I hope – "

"I'm sure all of you have heard about the incidents yesterday evening at the Newark Airport. We have much more information on the story to report. Here is Kelly Kennedy, reporting live from the Newark Airport. Kelly," David Wang, lead anchor of Channel Three news, said cutting Cyram off mid-sentence.

"Thank you, David. Today, doctors and scientists are still trying to find out exactly what happened last night at the Newark Airport. They have been investigating the five bodies that were involved in the two incidents. Out of the five bodies, two of them are still alive. Those two would be the paramedic and the man that was bitten in the first flight. The pilot, the passenger who bit the pilot, and the passenger who attacked the paramedic have all been killed. The pilot never saw daylight after the plane crash, and the passenger who bit the paramedic was killed as well. However, the passenger who bit the pilot awakened during operations and attacked a doctor, nearly killing him. He was immediately shot down and killed. The doctor has been treated heavily, but is still hospitalized. The three living bodies' conditions will be updated whenever we get any information. Back to you, David," Kelly said. Before David could say anything else, I turned off the television, letting the information sink in for a moment.

"Well then… this is beginning to sound more and more like the zombies from Resident Evil," Cyram said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, and I saw Wesker walking down the street yesterday. Cyram, be practical: Zombies don't exist," I said. It did sound pretty convincing, to be honest, but still. I think thinking of zombies is already a pretty irrational thought. But, I'm no detective.

"Well, can you _prove_ that they don't exist?" he said. This was always a constant question of his. _Prove it. Got any proof? _Always needs proof.

"No, of course I don't have any proof. What, do you think that Capcom went insane and started to actually create what they made in their video games? What's next, a hedgehog running at amazing speeds is going to come at my door requesting me to move because Eggman is about to launch a bomb at Earth?"

"You loved Sonic a bit too much back then; and no, I'm just saying, that nobody knows much of anything of the topic for the moment, and I have to say that I think that this is a pretty fair assumption."

"And I think that you're an idiot. Is that not a fair assumption?" He let out a long drawn out sigh, and sank back into his seat.

"I am just saying that it _would not_ be surprising if it actually happened," he said, calming down.

"It could be, but I think that it is best for the professionals to look into this more. We don't know shit. They could just be lying to us. I didn't see any visual evidence, did you? Of course not, because there was none. That's just another idea… But it's probably wrong… Listen, let's just forget about it," I said, trying to get off the topic.

"Oh… Kay then. What is for breakfast then?"

"I don't feel like cooking… What do you want?"

"Can you _even _cook at all?" he said laughing.

"I'll cook tonight. Happy?" I said laughing with him.

"Err…I don't think I would enjoy that… I think…But for breakfast, do you have any good diner places around here then?" he asked. Barky's is a chain that they made back in '10. It is a very good breakfast diner place.

"There is Barky's, and in case you don't know what a Barky's is, it is a chain that they made back in 2010. It is a very good breakfast diner place and they practically have a Barky's in pretty much every city in the U.S.!" I said laughing. Kinda like how McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts were. They sort of cut them down, but there are still millions of them.

"Ok, then sure, I think I actually have a… Barky's, hate that name, back in my town, but I've never actually been within thirty feet of it."

"Alright, go get dressed… And hurry up… I'm hungry, too," I said, laughing. Cyram laughed as well, as he got up from the couch, stretching out his arms.

"Nag, Nag, Nag" He said as he wandered into the basement. I got up as well, and started for the bedroom. As I entered, I noticed that it was 12:03 P.M. About an hour until Colomb arrives, which means that we should probably pick up the pace. I quickly got changed into a black t-shirt, and khaki jean shorts, which happened to have six pockets. I slipped into my all black shoes, grabbed my cell phone, and exited the room.

Cyram was still downstairs when I came out. I glanced up at the clock in the kitchen, which read 12:07 P.M. About fifteen seconds later, Cyram started to come upstairs. He was wearing tight jeans and a long black shirt, along with black dress shoes.

"Okay! Let's get going," he said sounding really excited.

"Right…" I said, rolling my eyes. We went the back way through the kitchen. For some reason, I always hated going through the front door. I don't really know why… Since the remote on my key-chain was still busted, I couldn't use the auto-start up button. Instead, I opened up my door first, got in, and unlocked his. I started up the car, and pulled out of the driveway.

"When in the world are you going to get that shit fixed?" he asked.

"I sent a letter in the mail a few days ago, should come in soon. Why the hell are you so interested, anyway?" I asked. Really… Why _is_ he so interested?

"Because I am obsessive compulsive!"

"It's no big deal. It might have stalled us a second or two. Not like we are rushing for anything, anyway," I lied. Of course we were rushing, why else would I be going over the speed limit right now? Speed limit laws started to get enforced after I got my license. They used to be a lot looser, obviously, but a year after I got my license, and the accidents per year because of speeding ratio started to get higher, they decided to enforce it more. Also, local crimes have been decreasing. Cops are everywhere. That is the only part of the updated law that I liked… Cops should be everywhere… That is their job…

"So, what are we going to do after we finish eating?"

"Nothing."

"_Nothing_? If I recall correctly, you said you _had_ a lot of stuff planned for today."

"Let's just say that it will be a day of firsts."

"You know I hate surprises…Gahh! Bitch." We both started to laugh.

"You can turn on the radio if you want," I said wanting to get off the subject.

"You are telling this to someone whom did not listen to music for the first fourteen years of their life?"

"Alrighty then…" I began picking up the pace, going fifteen miles over the speed limit. There was practically nobody on the road, which was kind of weird for such a nice day that it is today. I guess everybody is where they are supposed to be already…

About three minutes later, 12:17 P.M., we arrived at the parking lot of Barky's.

"Here we are," I said pulling into a spot right by the entrance. Normally this place is packed, but I guess everyone got breakfast already. It was the afternoon, but the place was open until one o'clock. Assuming that they only serve breakfast… That's pretty cool, especially since I normally don't wake up early, and this is the perfect place to go if you don't feel like cooking. I turned the car off, and we got out. I'm hoping that this should take about twenty minutes, twenty-five tops, and that should give us enough time to make it home in time for the Colombian. While pushing the door open, I spotted a familiar face. I actually stopped in the middle of opening up the door.

"What in the hell are doing?" Cyram said. _What the hell is he doing here? _I questioned myself. "What happened?" Cyram asked again. I let go of the handle, and the door shut.

"Nothing, everything is fine," I said.

"It sort of is _not_, hence you are standing outside of the place, whilst you were so excited to come here in the first place, something _has_ to be up, besides the sky you smart-ass," he said, stating the obvious.

"Okay, forget it," I said, barging into Barky's. "Actually… You wait here. One second," I said, shutting the door and walking over to the familiar face.

"What in the – "

"What the hell are you doing here!" I whispered to Colomb. He had a plate full of pancakes in front of him.

"Eating breakfast. What the hell are you doing here? Where's fat boy?" he said.

"He's outside, waiting for – " I stopped as the door bells jingled. I looked back, and saw Cyram walking quickly over by me and Colomb.

"It – " I put my hand over Colomb's mouth, which I actually regret since it was full with pancakes and syrup, before he could say anything more.

"Who's _that_?" Cyram asked the obvious question.

"Uh… I don't – "

"It's me, you stupid fat bastard," Colomb said swatting my arm out of the way. Without him noticing, I whipped my hand on his sleeve. Cyram's head twitched in surprise.

"What in the hell is _he_ doing here?" he asked me.

"He _was_ supposed to meet us at my house at one o'clock, but he decided to wait till the last minute to get a meal," I said.

"Shut up, you stupid German. I didn't expect you to come here. Now, let me eat, I'm starving."

"Whatever," I said, sighing. Cyram still looked surprised. "_Well_?" I said to Colomb.

"What!" he said, obviously irritated.

"Aren't you going to invite us to eat with you?" I said, laughing.

"I don't give a fuck," he said, digging into his plate.

"Alright, Cyram, let's go get some food," I said, walking towards the small line of people.

"What are you getting?" Cyram asked, just as we joined the line of people. He was gazing up at the menu.

"I'm getting the number two," I said. The number two was three pieces of the best French toast I've ever had.

"Ah, French Toast lover I see," he said laughing. "Let's see… What do I want — Pineapple! I'll take the number _seven_.

"Jeez, have to get the most expensive thing up there?" I said. I didn't laugh, but I made it obvious that I wasn't serious.

"I'll pay for the damn thing… And the tip… Okay, half of the tip" he said, sensing my sarcasm. About two minutes later, it was our turn to order.

"Welcome to Barky's, what can I get 'cha?" a large black lady said, sounding like a cafeteria lady. I glanced at Cyram, who twitched.

"The number two and the number seven," I said. She punched a few numbers into the cash register.

"Total is twelve ninety-five," she said opening up the cash register. I tossed her a ten and three ones, and she put the bills in the register, pulled out a nickel, and gave it to me with the receipt. "Should be ready in a few minutes," she said.

"Thanks," I said. I glanced back at Colomb, who was almost done with his meal. Knowing him, he is probably going to want to go back home or tell us to meet him somewhere.

"Well then, I am guessing that _that_ is what you had planned?" he said, breaking the short silence.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said that you _were not_ in a rush, yet you went fifteen miles _over_ the speed limit, which seems – "

"No, we were supposed to come here, eat, and then get back home for one o'clock, when he was supposed to show up. Apparently, he had the same idea as us," I said. I hate to cut people off, but he normally comes up with really long, drawn out theories that are normally false. Well… Saying that a theory that is normally false kind of defeats the purpose of making a theory…

"Ok then…," he said.

"Order up!" the lady said coming over, doing a dance with two trays. Cyram started to laugh out of no where, as we picked up our trays.

"What's so funny?" I asked him, making my way around chairs that should have been pushed in, tables, and the like, to get to Colomb's table.

"You didn't find her funny?" he said, following.

"No… She always does that…," I said, as we arrived at Colomb's table, which was conveniently located by the little service station, where the forks, knives, spoons, sugar etc., were located. I looked over my shoulder at Colomb as I pulled out a fork and knife and a handful of the sugar packets. He was already finished, and his tray wasn't with him.

"I'd love to sit and chat with ya, but I have one more thing to do. Call me when you guys are done," he said getting up and stretching.

"I figured you were going to do that," I said laughing. "Alright, I'll call you when we're done."

"Kay. See ya," Colomb said in Cyram's direction

"Okay then," Cyram said, setting down his tray, pulling up a chair, and sitting down. We ate in silence, munching on our breakfast. Cyram had the oddest way of eating his meal. He was eating with all of his food in bite sized pieces, and his left hand held the fork upside down while the right hand holds the knife. I suppose everybody has their own eating styles…

Beyond that, I'm pretty sure Cyram was mad about the whole Colomb thing. I suppose I'll have to interrogate later… Finishing my French toast, I tossed away the tray and anything else that remained inside of it, and, turning around, saw Cyram coming up behind me. I stepped aside from the garbage, and Cyram tossed his tray in the garbage.

"You _are_ going to be okay hanging out with Colomb, right?" I finally asked him.

"Yea, why wouldn't I be?" he said, looking at me like I'm crazy. I felt the tension release.

"I don't know… You didn't seem too happy to see him earlier."

"It's called, shockism…" he said, as we started to depart from Barky's.

"Right… Alright, let me call up the punk," I said, pulling out my cell phone. I flipped it up, scrolled through phone numbers, picked Colomb, and pressed Talk. The scroll wheels on cell phones these days are amazing… Better than those stupid arrows a few years back…

"'Elo?" Colomb said on the other end. I heard really fast Spanish speaking people in the background.

"Uh… Yeah… Well, we are done here… Are you going to be able to come?" I said. The loud speaking turned into screams, it was pretty loud.

"Yeah, why not?" he said, giving a little chuckle.

"Well – " Colomb screaming Spanish at the people in the background cut me off.

"Continue," he said. The background was silent.

"Right… Yeah, like I was saying, we are finished here… Meet at my place?"

"Sure. I'll be there in ten. I just gotta finish up here."

"Alright, see you then," I said hanging up. I put the cell phone back into my pocket, and made my way to the car.

"He's coming, right?" Cyram said. Unlike most cell phones, the conversation I had with Colomb couldn't be heard by someone who was standing twenty feet away from me.

"Yeah, he just has to finish up at home," I said, opening up my door and unlocked Cyram's. He hopped inside of the car. I looked at the clock, as the car started. This time, I put on the radio.

Around five minutes later, 1:04 P.M., there was a strange scene on the side of the road. A pack of about five rats were chasing two little children, who were running along on the side of the street. The kids were running towards a man, who was probably their father, and the rats were catching up on them. The two children were both blondes, and both seemed to be male twins. They were wearing identical blue over-alls, with flannel short sleeved shirts underneath. Ironically enough, the father was a blonde and had very similar clothing.

"What the hell?" Cyram said, awakening from his little dose and finally noticing the rats. I started to honk my horn, trying to get the rats attention off of the children. That didn't work.

"We gotta do something." I quickly thought up a plan, as I sped up towards the children.


	4. Day Two: Rats

Meh… Blame Cyram for the long time between updates… He decided to go away for the weekend after I gave him the chapter… But, hey… Who gives a shit…

Anyway... I appreciate the few who stuck with me during the "boring" parts… But I suppose it is time for some action, eh?

So… Yeah… Read… Review (please?)… And enjoy…

"What in _the_ hell are you doing?" Cyram said, as he was thrown backward due to the inertia. I didn't bother answering, as we started to close in on the children, who were about a hundred feet or so away from them. I started to honk my horn again, trying to get the kids' attention. One looked back, while the other kept running towards his father. I rolled down the power windows, which, thankfully, rolled down pretty fast.

"Get in the car!" I shouted out to the two of them. The one who looked back ran off the trail to his father, and ran over to the car. I stopped abruptly, unlocked the door, and honked my horn out to the other one. "Hey! Come here!" I shouted to him. The one kid jumped into the car, and started to catch his breath. I pressed on the gas pedal again, speeding up towards the other kid. "Get in here!" I shouted out to him. The rats were right on his tail. I looked in the backseat as I started to slow down a bit, and saw my wooden bat. I sped up again until I was in front of the pack of rats. I stopped around twenty-five feet in front of them. "Cyram, stay with the kid. Keep him calm," I said, grabbing for the bat.

"You are… Crazy," he said, looking up at me as I got out of the car. I darted towards the group of rats, looking in horror as one of the rats jumped up on the kid, taking him down to the ground, as the others began crowding around him, taking bites at his flesh.

"Shit," I said quietly to myself, still running towards the rats. The father, who was about ten feet from the scene started to yell at them, as three of the five rats ran towards him. One jumped up, biting him in the arm, as he kicked another one.

"Ryan!" the father screamed, hitting the rats off of the little kid and off of himself. I was finally in the position to do some batting practice, as one turned and looked at me, chewing. He ran about three feet, and then jumped in the air at me. I batted the rat out of the air, completely crushing his rib cage area. The father looked up in surprise at me, as if he hadn't noticed me before. He grabbed one of the rats off of Ryan's back, hurling it in the air. That made two down, and three to go. Ryan got up from his turtle-like position, and ran for the car. One rat ran to catch him, but before he could even get a running start, I smashed the bat over its head. I had just noticed how huge the rats actually were. They were bigger than any rats I have ever seen before. The father grabbed another off of his leg, and then he threw it hard on the ground, then he pressed his foot hard on it. Sensing his double team tactic, I lifted the bat high in the air, and drove it down as hard as I could onto his head. Then, he kicked another in it's the ribs, as I jumped up and smashed the rest of his already beaten body open. We looked at each other, breathing heavily. "Thanks," he said between his heavy breathing.

"Sure… No problem," I said. A siren could be heard in the background, as a few neighbors began coming out. Apparently one of them had called the police. We still stood there, not taking our eyes off of each other. I don't exactly know why he was staring at me like he was, it's not like he seemed familiar or anything… I heard the car door open and shut, as the father began walking towards the car. I looked back to see Cyram walking towards me, with the two kids hugging the father in the background. I looked around at the dead rat's bodies, and the stained red grass and dirt… Ridiculous.

There were three cop cars, about six cops in total. They crowded around the small family, as the neighbors began to crowd around the family as well. I started to walk over to the crowd, as well. I was still holding the bat, which was stained with blood and pieces of the rats. The father then pointed at me, and the whole crowd seemed to turn towards me. As I walked towards the crowd, they seemed to step out of my way, sensing where I wanted to go. I didn't look back to see if Cyram was behind me, but I had to assume that he was. I looked down at Ryan, who had bite marks as well as blood all over him. I saw an ambulance coming down the street in front of us. I crouched down, just about at Ryan's height.

"I'm sorry," I said to him, feeling slightly guilty for not getting there earlier. He didn't say anything, as he was still crying. I looked at his freckled face, and saw that he had blue eyes behind all of the tears.

"It's not your fault," the father said suddenly, breaking the silence. He too had holes in his overalls and shirt, with blood dripping from his wounds. The ambulance made its way to the scene, and the paramedics rushed out. I got up from my crouch position, and glared at the father and Ryan, who started to walk over to the paramedics. Three of the cops walked over to the ambulance as well, and one took the kid away to his police car. The kid got into the car with the cop, and they drove away with the ambulance. It was now me, Cyram, the crowd of about a dozen neighbors, and the five cops. Another car pulled up, and a man, who was wearing a light brown trench coat and a matching light brown cowboy-like hat, came out with a notepad and a pen. He had a long, thick black mustache, and really thick black eyebrows. His eyes were a dark brown, and his skin was slightly tanned. He looked at the five cops, and gave them a signal to go check out the rat's bodies and anything else that was over by the scene. The man, who seemed to be a detective, took the bat out of my hands, and started to observe it, moving it around as blood and pieces of the rats dripped off.

"Quite a scene," he said to me with a slight grin.

"Yep," I said, without a grin. I didn't see exactly what was so funny about this…

"What _exactly_ happened here, mister…," he trailed off and made a face and hand motion that he was looking for a name.

"Peteroy," I said to him. He closed his eyes, and pointed his finger at me quickly.

"Okay, Mister Peteroy. What exactly happened here?" he said, opening up his eyes again. He stood the bat up, and rested it against the tire of my car. The end with the blood and rat bits was on the ground. _Where to start…_ I thought to myself for a moment.

"Well, I was coming home with my friend here," I said, pointing behind me towards Cyram, "from breakfast, when we saw these huge rats chasing two little children, and a man who looked like their father was out in the distance, running towards the kids. I sped up after the children, got one of the kids in the car while the other one didn't seem to hear me and kept running. So, I sped up faster in front of the kid, stopped the car, took that bat from my car, and then I ran after the rats. Before I could get to the kid, a rat jumped on him and took him down while the remaining rats began feasted on him, as well. Then, three rats got off of the kid and began running after the father. The father tried to fight the rats off of himself and his kid, and then I came over with the bat. We eventually got the rats off of the kid, and I told him to run to the car, then me and the kid's father killed the rats," I explained to him, talking slowly so he could get all of the notes down. Upon completion of the notes, the detective looked up at me, letting out a sigh.

"Sounds pretty odd," he said with some uncertainty. He put the pen in his pocket, looked out in the distance, then back at me. "Did you get bitten?"

"Nope, not a scratch," I said, looking up and down my body just to make sure.

"Alright, then let me get your number and address," he said. I gave the man my number and address. "You can go home now. My advice would to stay indoors for a while, you know?" he said, looking over at the cops who were still investigating the scene.

"Alright," I said, looking over as well.

"Well, I'll give you a call if we need anything more. Thanks for the info," he said, walking away towards the cops.

"You think he believed me?" I asked Cyram, not looking at him. I noticed the wind had suddenly started to pick up. Pretty odd…

"I don't know," he said, looking around at the cops and the detective.

"Let's get out of here," I said, opening up the door on my side. I didn't bother to touch the bat. I'd rather have it stay here, anyway. Cyram walked over to the other side as I unlocked his door, and he got in. I looked back at the back seat to see if any blood from Ryan got on any of the seats. I figured that Ryan didn't come into the car, as the seats were left bloodless. I thought that I should call up Colomb, as it was 1:46 P.M., and he was probably flipping out already that we were late. I took out my cell phone, and noticed that there were no missed calls, which is very uncharacteristic of Colomb. "Do me a favor, call up Colomb, and ask him where he is right now and such," I said to Cyram, handing him the phone.

"Why do _I_ have to call him," he said, grabbing the phone out of my hand. We were about two minutes from my house, but I didn't really care about being late or not at this point. I glanced over at Cyram, who held the phone close to his right ear. I decided it would be a good idea to do the speed limit, as cops were everywhere now. He took the phone away from his ear, and hung it up. "I only got the Voice Mail," he said putting it in his lap.

"Call again, he does that sometimes," I said to him, not taking my eyes off the road. I turned up my street, going a little bit faster than what I should be. Cyram still sat there with the phone in his ear, as we pulled into the driveway. Just as I fully stopped the car, Cyram flipped the phone up and handed it back to me.

"I got the Voice Mail… Yet again," he said, handing me the phone. I looked over at the back porch and noticed Colomb sitting on the steps with the phone in his ear. _That bastard… _I thought to myself

We got out of the car, and started to walk over to where Colomb was sitting. He was talking to someone, in Spanish, which lead me to believe it was his parents or relatives. He looked at us, and put his finger up signaling "one second". I threw my hands up in the air at this, as he made a mad face at me. He got up, as he flipped his cell phone shut.

"Where the fuck were you two?" he said, walking towards us.

"Rats," I said to him, walking by.

"What the hell does that mean?" he said. I didn't stop, nor acknowledge his question. I opened up the back door, and went inside. I heard him and Cyram talking outside. I'll let him explain it…

I walked swiftly towards my bedroom, and then threw my cell phone onto the bed. I had to keep my cool, however. I had to keep Cyram occupied for these next six days. I knew I should have gone for that weekend vacation…

I kicked my shoes off, away from the door way this time, and headed for the bathroom. The voices outside could still be heard, through my bathroom window, as I splashed some more cold water onto my face.

"Keep your cool," I said to myself in the mirror, as the water dripped off of my face. I heard the back door open, as I went out of the bathroom to greet Colomb and Cyram.

"Are you all right?" Cyram said, from behind Colomb.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Everything is perfect. We just hit some traffic and – "

"No you – "

"Traffic," I said, cutting off Colomb. I tried to get my point across without actually saying it: I did not want to talk about the rats anymore. "Alright, so what do we want to do?" I said clapping my hands together, and looking at Cyram.

"Hmm… I guess we _could_ play some HALO. I do still have to beat you…" he said.

"Right… Okay, make yourselves at home, get whatever you want to drink and I'll go set up the XBOX," I said.

"Okay then," Cyram said. Him and Colomb headed into the kitchen to get something to drink.

"Get me some water!" I called out to them, as I set up the XBOX.

"What the fuck!" I heard Colomb exclaim from the kitchen. "Where the hell is all of the beer?" Colomb went on, barging into the living room.

"I'll get some later… I think you can survive a few hours being sober… It'll do ya some good," I said, not looking at him. I continued setting up the XBOX.

"Bullshit," he said, going back into the kitchen. I looked up, as Cyram came in with a Sprite, as well as the bottle of water I had ordered. I finished up with the XBOX, put in HALO Four, turned on the plasma, and turned on the XBOX Three. "Fucking faggot," Colomb said coming back into the living room with a water bottle in his hand. _Don't even respond, _I thought to myself. _That would be the best, eh? _

"Alright, let's go," I said handing out the controllers.

"I'm going to kick your ass for not having any beer," Colomb said, taking a sip of the water. _Don't worry. You'll kick his ass in HALO…_ _Along with Cyram… And the rats… And the detective… _

"Right…," I said, drinking nearly half the water bottle in one sip.

We played for about an hour and a half… 3:14 P.M…. Ultimately, I won every match by a large margin in each. Out of the five games we played, I came in first every game, Cyram came in second twice and third three times, and Colomb came in second three times and third twice. Pretty much, I ran the show…

"Stupid Jewish bastard…," Colomb said as the last round finished. "It's no fair, all you do is play this game…"

"Bullshit… Whenever I play this game, it's normally just online with you… This 'all you do is play this game' excuse has gotten pretty old… I think it's been going on since… 2004? Just face it… I own you," I said, doing my imitation of a evil laugh at the end. I was feeling much better after that…

"Yeah, sure… Well, I gotta go, it's almost three thirty…," he said, getting up.

"Alright, will you be around later tonight?" I asked, as he made his way to the front door.

"Probably… Why?"

"I don't know… Maybe we can go see a movie or something… Just hang out…"

"Hmm… I'll see. But, I gotta go… See ya guys later," he said, opening up the front door.

"See you later, then," Cyram said.

"Shut the fuck up, fat bastard," Colomb said, nearly slamming the door.

"Okay then, any idea what his problem is?" Cyram asked.

"Who knows? Who cares..."

"Well… I gotta use the bathroom," Cyram said, getting up.

"Okay, its right there," I said, pointing towards the bathroom door. He was in there for about two minutes. He came out with the sound of the toilet flushing behind him.

"What do you want to do now?" I said, as he came into the room.

"I don't know…"

"Oh… Kay… Well, I guess we cuh – " I was interrupted by the ringing of my door bell. "Must be Colomb… Look to see if he left anything," I said making my way towards the door. I looked through the peep hole to see Colomb, who was looking back towards the end of the street with a look of exhaustion on his face. I quickly opened up the door to greet Colomb. "What's wrong?" I said to him, as he pushed me out of the way, coming into the house. He stood hunched over in the center of the living room, still catching his breath. He didn't show any signs of answering. "What the hell's the matter?"

"A… A truck… A truck just came… Storming down Main Street… It… It crashed into another car, and… And it nearly ran me over on the curb...," he said, catching his breath between words.

"What?" I said, opening the door back open to see if what he said was true or not. A huge truck, probably an eighteen wheeler, was turned over and in flames at the beginning of my street. Several police officers were there, aiming their guns at the truck. "Holy shit…," I said lowly to myself, as I stared down at the scene.

"I want to see!" Cyram said, getting up from the couch to view the scene. I stormed through the living room, through the hallway, and into my room to get my shoes on. Returning to the living room, I noticed that Cyram and Colomb weren't there, and the front door was wide open. Exiting the house, I saw Cyram and Colomb jogging down the street, and police men putting up barricades that said "Do Not Cross Police Line!" and such around the truck. I started to sprint down the street, as I noticed an ambulance, a fire truck, and several police cars further down the street. Cyram and Colomb slowed their jog down to a walk, as they leaned up against the barricades. I was about thirty feet from the scene, as I started to decrease speed a bit.

"What's going on?" I said, slowing down to a walk towards them.

"Come out of the truck with your hands up!" a cop screamed with his gun aimed at what looked like a man in the driver's seat.

"Maybe he's dead," another cop said, a few seconds later.

"Go and open the door," the first cop said, tilting his head at another cop. He looked as if he was the Chief… The cop crept over towards the door, with his gun pointed at the man that could be seen through the window, and he had his other hand out, grabbing for the handle. The man was leaned against the door, so one would think that he would fall out as he opened up the door… The lone cop then stood there in that position for a few seconds, and then grabbed the handle of the door, pulled it open and backed up. The man fell out, landing with a grunt.

"Get up and put your hands in the air!" the Chief barked at the man. The man began to move and moan a little. He then started to ascend off of the pavement. All seven of the cops now have their guns pointed at the man. The cop who opened the door began to slowly back step back to his original position. "Put your hands in the air and stand still!" the Chief yelled at the man, as he got up to a full stance. He stood there for a moment, looking around at the carnage that he had caused. The flames were still being taken out by the firefighters, and the paramedics still waited patiently in the ambulance. The crowd began to thicken quickly with neighbors and people whose cars were blocked off by the collision. The man then started to slowly walk towards the cop who had opened up the door. He shuffled his feet, and he stumbled forward slowly, dragging his right foot on the ground. He let out a few soft moans as he walked.

"Your orders, sir?" the cop next to the Chief said.

"I will take care of him," the Chief said, walking towards the man. He put his gun right on the back of the head of the man. "GET ON YOUR KNEES OR I WILL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT!" he screamed. Feeling the gun on the back of his head, the man stopped… But not for too long.

The man turned around and wrapped his arm around the Chief; he pulled the Chief's head back by pulling down on his hair. Then, he tossed his head full force at the Chief's throat. The Chief's gun went off in the middle of this process, missing completely, and the bullet probably soared into the endless sky. The man sunk his teeth into the Chief's neck, and pulled his head back, ripping a piece of the Chief's flesh off.

"Ah! Get off me!" he said, as he tossed the man back onto the pavement. He put two bullets from his handgun into the man's chest, as he clutched his neck area. "Kill that son of a bitch!" the Chief, yelled as he made his way towards the ambulance. The remaining six police officers started to shoot their weak handgun bullets into the man, who stayed in his prone position. They filled his body with about nineteen bullets. Three each. The cop, who opened up the door leading to this incident, put a final bullet into the head of the man. If the man was dead before the bullet was put into head, I don't know… But, a better question would be… Was he dead before he even took a shot?

A puddle of blood started to slowly form around the man's body. The crowd was making sounds of wonder and awe as well as of confusion and surprise. The cops walked away towards the ambulance, where the paramedics had already begun examination of the wound on the Chief's neck. The cops started to talk to each other, but no words could actually be made out from the distance that I was standing at.

Both Cyram and Colomb's jaws were agape, and their eyes were filled with awe. Their hands were grasping the barricades so tightly, that the tips of their knuckles had turned white.

It was quiet now. You could nearly hear the sounds of whispers and heavy breathing. The Chief now entered the ambulance with the man who had opened up the door and started this chaos. It seemed as if he was his partner, as he was obviously really concerned with the fate of the Chief. But, I do suppose they were all worried…

The ambulance drove away, as another car pulled up. It was the same car that that detective had been in a few hours ago at the rat scene, so it did not surprise me when the same detective came out, looking a little more tired than what he had looked like before. He looked around at the scene for a few moments, standing tall and only moving his head and eyes around. After surveying the area, he jotted down a few notes, and started to walk towards the body, which still had blood gushing out of what used to be his head, and the rest of his bullet-plugged body. He knelt down beside it, scanning it over a few times with his small, beady eyes. The detective looked like he could use some rest…

Upon completion of the quick examination of the body, he jotted a few notes down and got up from his kneeling position. He walked over to the truck solemnly, looking over at the car down the street that the truck had rammed into before crashing into the pole, nearly running over Colomb, and possibly other pedestrians, along the way. The car was completely totaled, but there were no flames. Also, it did not seem that anybody was in the car at the time of the collision, which I'm sure the detective noted.

He looked at the inside of the door, which was coated with a fresh coat of blood. As he examined it closer, he noticed something else, which I could not see. He actually jumped into the truck, to examine closer. I tried to get a better view, but there was no way for me to do so. He started to drag something out of the truck, which seemed to be something heavy and rather disgusting, judging on the expression on the detective's face. He pushed it forward, out of the driver's seat door. A body, which seemed to be dead, landed on the floor with a thwamp. The crowd started to gasp and murmur at the sound of the falling body. Thankfully, however, he did not move, moan nor did he groan. Everything on him was covered in a deep, crimson red. The detective then jumped out of the truck and started to take more note as he examined this body. He took his notes as he walked towards the car. He hopped in the car, and started to say something to the driver, showing him parts of his notes and making many hand gestures. He seemed like one of those people who wouldn't be able to talk with his tied behind his back…

"Unbelievable," I said lowly, breaking our long period of silence. The two slowly shook their heads up and down. The car that the detective was in started to back up, as a few cars started to storm down all four streets leading to the intersection. The five cops were still there, and one of them received a call on their radio. The voice on the radio was loud, but it was filled with too much static to actually make out any of the words. The cop, who had received the radio call, gave a nod to the other cops.

"Alright, folks, there's nothin' to see here. Go back to your homes where it is safe, and stay indoors," he said, doing a pushing motion with his hands, signaling for us to move back. Cyram and Colomb looked at me, as if I were to lead the way.

"Okay… Let's go," I said, turning around up to my house. Colomb quickly turned around, while Cyram still sat there staring blankly ahead.

"Actually… I'm going to head on home… They are probably going to set a bullshit curfew or something because of these bastards," he said looking back at the scene.

"That's true… You are better off going home, anyway. But umm," I said, leaning closer to him. He sensed that I was going to say something that I didn't want Cyram or anyone else to hear, as he leaned closer. "Do you have a gun?" I whispered to him.

"Hell no," he said, speaking a little louder than a whisper. I glanced over to Cyram, who was still leaning against the barricade gazing at the scene.

"Alright, well… Be careful… I'm getting quite suspicious about the things that are going around here," I said to him.

"I will," he whispered.

"Call me if anything happens," I said, not whispering anymore. We both got out of our leaning positions, and resumed standing up straight.

"Right, you do the same," he said walking away. He slapped Cyram on the back, as he ran off towards his house. Cyram stood back up straight, and stretched a little. He looked back at me, with a paler than usual face.

"So then… What's next?" he said whisking his hair back. An ominous grin started to form around his face.


	5. Day Two: Beautiful

**Muhaha! I return! Yes… Yes… Of course…**

**Anyway, time to answer some questions from the reviewers! Wait… Only one… That ruins the entire show! **

**James: Yeah, I live in New Jersey. This story is taking place in Sayreville, which is in Middlesex County. I used to live there, but I moved to Ridgefield, Bergen County. **

**Feel free to ask me any questions that you may have… They will all be answered here… --**

**Okay, I want to know some stuff from you punks. Your reviews aren't really telling me some of the stuff that I want to hear, so I will ask you here:**

**1. How do you like the way I pass time? **

**2. How's the dialogue and characters and descriptions?**

**3. Do you like the length? **

**So, yeah… If you review… Answer those… Please? **

**Umm… What else… Oh yeah, I have some author notes at the bottom (I put this reminder because I have yet to do so)… So, be sure to read them… After you read the chapter… Or else it will ruin some stuff! **

**Without further ado… Here it is!**

We walked back up to the house without exchanging any thoughts about the mischievous events that had just taken place down the street. Police cars zoomed to the end of the street, sending a gust of wind at our faces as they stormed towards the scene. Sirens, flashing lights and the smell of something burning filled my senses as we walked up the short flight of steps to the front door. I noticed that the front door was still wide open, but, knowing the area that I lived in, I figured that the house would be left just as it was before I left it. We walked up into the house, and entered the living room. I shut and locked the door behind me, and turned to Cyram.

"So…," I said, scratching my head.

"Yeah…," he said, looking down at the floor.

"I don't mean to sound like a terrible host or anything… But how's about some alone time?" I said. It sounded really terrible asking for my guest to get out of my face and go into the basement, but…

"Sure, no problem," he said.

"Alright, dude… If you need anything, you know where to get it… I got a TV down there, but if you want to play games you can go right ahead," I said, trying to sound more reasonable than before.

"Okay," he said turning around towards the basement door. He didn't say anything, nor look back up as he exited the first floor and went down the creaky stairs to the basement.

"Bah," I said aloud, as I walked out of the living room towards my room. As I entered the room, I noticed that it was 4:03 P.M. Now nightfall was approaching. _Please let the rest of this day go easy… _I don't know exactly who or what I was pleading to, as my faith in a God isn't too strong… Perhaps it was to the attackers?

I kicked off my shoes, and they banged loudly against the closet door. _The closet_. I opened up the closet door quickly, as the shoes on the rack fell all over me. _Nice one, you knew that the shoe rack is loose…_ I kicked the shoes out of my way, and walked into the closet.

The closet was a vast, walk-in closet. Inside were an assortment of clothes, shoes, jackets, and other collectables. However, also hidden in the depths of the closet, was the suitcase. The suitcase that would free me from my worries of the night. As I walked in, I had to push the lines of jackets and shirts out of my way. The "secret" compartment was all the way in the back, beyond this vast amount of jackets and shirts. A huge, fireproof safe held the suitcase, which sat quietly and was just waiting to be used along with the "key".

The suitcase also held a large amount of money that I have kept safe for a very long time. Most of the bills have probably been updated, now that I think of it. The safe was black, and had three dials, which were black as well. The numbers were a dark gray, which sometimes mixed in with the black if it was dark enough. The combination was one that nobody could ever guess, as there was a hundred numbers on each dial. I flipped the light switch to the two mini spot lights, which shinned brightly on the dials. Just as I put my hand on the first dial, I heard the phone ring in the background. _Bah… It's probably just a solicitor… But what if it isn't? _I swiftly turned around and made my way through the line of shirts and jackets towards the phone. I walked a bit faster than normal, as the ringer on the phone had gone off three times now. Upon exiting the closet, I crawled over the bed to the phone.

"Hello?" I said, picking up the phone quickly and putting it to my ear. "Hello?" I said after three seconds of silence. Sometimes the phone doesn't pick up the other caller immediately… Piece of crap…

"Oh my God! Are you okay!" Lindsay nearly screamed from the other end, sounding very alarmed.

"Umm… Yeah?" I said. _Could the stories be posted all over the news already?_

"I heard all about what happened!" she said.

"Oh, really?" I said, letting out a forced chuckle. "I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes… Yes, I'm sure. They didn't touch me or anything," I said, trying to make it seem like I wasn't bragging or trying to act cool.

"Oh… Well, I've been hearing all of these crazy stories all day. People have been breaking into other people's houses, eating them and stuff like that… And I'm getting scared…," she said. She actually sounded really frightened. Normally, she was happy and cheerful, which makes it pretty easy to spot when she is mad or not in a good mood. This is just one of the many things I like about her.

"Are you serious? Did you hear about the truck crashing on Main Street?"

"Yeah, I was worried about that, too. You weren't involved in that, were you?"

"No, but Christian nearly got run over by that truck driver. After that, he came back to the house and told us about it, and then we ran over and watched the rest of the incident. Actually, I just got in from it," I said, letting out an unforced chuckle this time. I called Colomb Christian instead, because she dislikes the name Colomb, and thinks it to be sort of racist and the like… She just doesn't understand the joke…

"Oh, well thank God he's okay… Listen, I know you told me that we probably wouldn't hang out this week because you had plans, but can I please stay over the night?" she said. I never told her why I would be busy this week, but I did tell her that we probably wouldn't speak much or anything, which was actually very hard to say. _Stay over the night… Hmm… _

"You're that scared?" I said, laughing.

"Well… I would hate to die by being eaten by my neighbor or something, you know?" she said, not laughing.

"Alright, hold on one second," I said to her.

"'Kay," I heard her say as I put the phone down on my bed. I hoped over the bed, and made my way down the basement stairs. I suddenly thought about the closet, and wondered if I had left the safe uncovered or not. Not that it mattered much… Not like Cyram is going to come upstairs, anyway. I reached the bottom of the stairs, and put my ear to the basement door. I heard the television on, but could not make out any words. Solemnly, I knocked on the door three times. As I finished knocking, the television clicked off, and I heard the slight sound of footsteps walking across the cement floor. _You really should have gotten that carpet…_

"What did I do?" Cyram said, swinging the door open. His face was wet, and I couldn't tell if it were sweat or water. I would have to assume water, as it was never really hot down in the basement…

"Umm…I hate to do this… But would you feel uncomfortable if someone stays over the night?" I said to him.

"Well, not really depending on the person and whatever," he said, not even thinking about it.

"Okay… Well… Umm… Well, there have been more stories than what we have heard… People are breaking into other people's houses, eating them… More crashes and stuff… And my girlfriend is scared and – "

"_You_ have a girlfriend?" he asked, with a sarcastic, surprised expression.

"Umm… Yeah… I do believe I've told you about this… But, that's not the point… Is it alright?" I said. Cyram tends to forget things sometimes… I do think I've told him before… But, really, that isn't the point.

"Sure I guess, just so I know, you don't plan on – "

"I would go with a no on that one… She just wants to survive the night, you know?" _This fool…_

"Okay, good… The last thing I need is memories of nights when I stayed over my sister's house when I used to watch her kids voluntarily as a teenager. Just out of curiosity, does she even know _who_ I am, or anything at all?"

"Here lies the problem… She knows nothing about you. She doesn't even know that anybody is here, let alone some guy over the Internet. I told her I had a lot to do and that I wouldn't be able to hang out with her and stuff… She said that it was alright and stuff…"

"Well that was extremely nice of you to do," he sarcastically said. This made us both laugh.

"Yeah… Sure… Whatever… Well, she's still on the phone so… I'll come back down when I'm done talking to her, okay?" I said.

"Alright," he said, turning around and closing the door, as I turned around and nearly ran up the stairs. Re-entering my bedroom, I over on the bed and picked the phone back up.

"Okay, back," I said to her.

"Jeez… What were you doing?" she said.

"Well… Okay, I gotta explain something to you," I said.

"Oh no, what now?"

"Okay… Well…"

"What is it?" she said, impatiently. I heard some rummaging in the background. Must be packing up already…

"Alright… You know how I told you that I would be busy for the entire week?"

"Yeah… Are you finally going to tell me what you have been up to?" some glass-like object fell in the background, making a very loud shattering noise. I heard her mumble something under her breath.

"Yes… Okay, to make a long story short, one of my friends from the Internet came over from Arkansas and _he's_ spending the week at my place," I said, emphasizing the gender to place further suspicion in the garbage… Well… She could still say I'm…

"Oh, really? Well, why didn't you tell me? I thought you were doing something really important… Well, I suppose hanging out with a friend is important," she said, perking up a little bit.

"I don't know… Well, I was asking him if it was alright if you came over… And it's cool with him… So, come on over," I said with a laugh.

"Okay, cool. Is there anything that I should know about this guy?"

"I don't think so… He's kinda like me… But not exactly… Just come over and I'll explain the rest to you." Of course if I said that to Cyram, he would flip out. Nobody is like me, obviously… Whether they want to be or not… But, out of all the people I know, Cyram is the only person that I can say is kinda like me. Lindsay would have to be second… And then the list would probably run down the family tree… Probably… Haven't really thought about that, yet…

"Okay, cool. I'll be over in thirty minutes or so… Still have to pack my stuff," she said, which was followed by one of her cute chuckles.

"Alright… Be sure to take the back roads, as Main Street and all the other major roads will most likely be blocked off…"

"Yeah, I know. I'll check the traffic reports before I go and stuff," she said quickly, as if she wanted the conversation to end.

"Okay, cool. Call me if you need help or if something goes wrong or something," I said, noticing her urgency.

"Gotcha. See ya then," she said quickly, hanging up. _Love you, too._

I put the phone back on the receiver, and looked into the closet. From my angle, the safe could be easily seen, with the two spotlights shinning brightly on the safe. I walked into the back of the closet, and turned the spot lights off. I put all the jackets and shirts and stuff in the way of the safe, and shut off the main light. Just as I was about to shut the closet door and leave, I noticed the shoes that were still scattered all over the floor. _Stupid, stupid…_ I reopened the closet, put the shoes back on the rack, and closed the closet door again.

I left the room, and made my way down the basement stairs again, jumping over the last two stairs. The volume of the television wasn't heard this time, but the sound of his footsteps reached my ears, just as I got to the bottom of the staircase. I knocked three times again, as Cyram opened up the door just at my third knock.

"I was coming, you know," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Bah… Well, she's coming over now… She should be here in a half hour or so…," I told him.

"Did you tell her about me, or does she think you have a girl hiding over here?"

"Not really… I just told her that you would be here… I also told her that you were a psychopath who enjoys raping little girls…"

"You are kidding, are you not?"

"Of course I'm kidding, fool…"

"Yeah, I knew you're kidding… But did you really say that to her?"

"Yes, Cyram… Of course," I sarcastically said.

"Well you _do_ seem like the kind of person that would say something, such as that," he said, trying to find a reason for believing my sarcasm.

"Right… Well, I suppose we should clean up the living room and watch the news to find out exactly what has happened… Right?" I said, changing subjects.

"Okay, just give me a second, and I will be right up," he said, closing the door half way.

"Sure. Meet me upstairs when you're ready."

"Okay," he said, shutting the door all of the way. I turned around, and made my way up the stairs to the living room.

As I reached the first floor, I started to wonder if I should go to the closet and get what I was looking for. Since Cyram normally takes longer than what he tells you, I thought about it for a moment, standing right in the middle of the bedroom and the living room. _Bah… Get it later…Better off not showing him right away, anyway…_

I slowly walked into the living room, letting out a long sigh as I looked out the window. _Why must all of this happen now? _I walked over towards the XBOX, and noticed that the three controllers were placed neatly on each cushion of the leather couch. I picked up the three controllers and placed them in the display case underneath the plasma, making sure to keep them each a few inches away from the other. I then unplugged all of the other wires going out from the XBOX, and put them, along with the XBOX itself, into their places in the display case. I got up, stretching a little, and looked over at the table, which had two empty water bottles and one empty Sprite can on it. As I picked up each bottle and can I notice that there was the perfect circle of condensation underneath them. Along with the perfect circle, some other blotches of liquid were along the table. I put the bottles and cans down, and wiped the liquids off with my forearm. I picked up the bottles and cans again, and walked over to the kitchen, depositing them into the recycling bin. The basement stairs, began to creek, as Cyram began his ascend upstairs. I returned to the living room, and gave one more scan around to make sure everything looked clean. _It's decent, none the least…_ Cyram quickly opened up the basement door, looked over at me in the living room, and walked in.

"Jeez… What took ya so long?" I said to him, being half sarcastic but half serious.

"I wanted to anger you by taking so long; _that_ and I usually take a long time either way" he said with a chuckle.

"Right… Well, sit down and let's watch the news, eh?" I said, sitting down and grabbing for the remote. I flipped the remote through the air, and caught it almost perfectly to where the aimer was pointing at the television. Cyram sat down as I turned on the plasma and put on the news.

We watched the news for about twenty minutes, receiving nothing on what we wanted to hear. The only two stories they had reported were the two that we knew about. Apparently, we watched just in time for the weather and traffic reports.

"Well… That sucked…," I said, looking up at the clock, which read 5:06 P.M.

"Yeah… Well, isn't _she _supposed to be here soon?" Cyram asked, looking up at the clock as well. I had just noticed that I never gave him her name…

"Barring traffic and or any other hassles, _Lindsay_ is supposed to be here soon," I said.

"Okay… Well then – " Cyram was cut off by the loud sound of screeching tires somewhere outside of my house. I jumped out of my seat on the couch, and ran over to the window. I pushed the curtains out of my way, and saw that a man was standing right in front of Lindsay's car, which was two houses away from my house. In my neighbor's driveway, I saw two men on the ground biting at another man's throat that was lying on the ground.

"Shit," I said, as Cyram approached the window. She started to beep her horn at the man, as he started to walk towards her car.

"What in the hell?" Cyram said, taking in everything.

"Okay… Umm… Go out there, and distract them or something… I'll be right out," I said, walking towards my room.

"Why me!" Cyram exclaimed as I left the living room. I didn't bother to explain, for time was short. I ran into my room, and swung the closet door open, dodging the falling shoes from the shoe rack. I ran to the back of the closet, pushing jackets and shirts out of my path. I took the cover off of the safe, turned the mini spot lights on, and entered the pass code: 52-66-99.

I swung the safe open, and peered at the greatness within for a moment. I picked up the old, slightly rusted, silver revolver and a small case of six of its specialized bullets. I put the little case into my pocket, as I exited the closet and jumped into my regular pair of shoes. _Shit… Forgot the brace… Who gives a shit… You don't need that now… Just concentrate on saving her…_

I ran through the hallway, and went right through the open door. From here, I quickly noticed Cyram backing away, as two zombies were walking towards him. Another zombie was approaching Lindsay's car. Lindsay quickly noticed me in the doorway and started screaming something. I couldn't make out what she was saying, but I would have to assume it was "HELP ME!" or something along those lines. _Twelve bullets… Three targets… Shouldn't be too hard… Right?_

"Come here, Cyram… Let me handle this," I said to Cyram, jumping down the flight of stairs. He looked back at me in complete shock, as he saw the revolver in my hands. _Alright… Aim at the stomach… This gun should knock this fucker out in one shot… _

The target was moving slowly, and was at least twenty yards or so away from me. He was moving in a straight line, which made me forget about aiming at his stomach. _Take your time… But hurry up…_

I squared my feet with my shoulders, bent my knees slightly, and hunched over enough so that my head was even with the gun and the target's head. I aimed the gun with both arms held out straight, right at his head. I quickly remembered my training, and remembered on of the major points when firing this revolver: Keep your hands away from the bullet cache. If I were to fire the revolver with my fingers on or near the bullet cache, I would burn my fingers. Back to the target, who was wobbling a little now, but I didn't take my aim off of his head as it wobbled back and forth. His head movements were ever so slight that I wouldn't have to adjust my aim too much as he walked. I pulled the trigger back just when he was staring right down the barrel.

My arms were thrown back, as the recoil on this revolver was great. The target's entire head was blown off, yet he kept walking towards me. I thought about shooting again, as I got back into my stance, but he slowly dropped down to his knees, and then fell forward onto his stomach. I noticed another zombie walking up behind the downed zombie. This one was a lot closer than what the other one was, and a bit shorter than the other, so I bent over a bit more. The aim was perfect, as I pulled the trigger back.

Like the last victim, his entire head blew off with the one shot. He, however, didn't walk after taking the shot. I actually didn't see him fall down, as the recoil is so great on this gun, that it sometimes makes me step back a foot or two, like it did here. I looked over at the car now, as the zombie was five or so feet away from the driver's door. However, he wasn't in the way of the car. I waved my hands at her, signifying that I wanted her to pull up over here. Likewise, she stepped on the accelerator, and quickly got in front of the house. The zombie now changed its course, towards me.

"Go by her, will ya?" I said, making a head gesture towards Lindsay.

"Okay," he said, breaking into a jog. I started to walk over to this atrocity. I didn't actually take the time to examine my other two friends, but I wanted to cherish this kill.

He was a male, looked like he was in his middle ages. His brown hair had clumps of blood and dirt in it. His mouth was dripping with fresh blood, as he was feasting on what used to be my neighbor earlier. His eyes were white, with many veins inside of them. His skin was tanned, with many bite marks and dried up blood all over it. His stomach held a few bullet holes in it, which blood clotted all around. They didn't seem to be recent, but how long ago could they have happened? He was wearing a red shirt, with blue jean shorts and white shoes. I stopped about thirty feet in front of him, stood sideways towards him, and aimed the gun straight at his head with my right arm. I didn't know how I would react to the recoil of the gun with only holding it with one hand, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

He started to walk much faster and wobblier. I wanted him to be within arm's reach before I pulled the trigger and ended his life. His arm swatted at the gun, missing terribly, and he was hunched over, with the top of his head touching the barrel. _Beautiful._

I pulled the trigger back, and I was immediately splashed with a wave of blood. The recoil from the gun nearly pulled my arm out of its socket, and I was quickly filled with pain in the right shoulder area. I let out a little groan of pain, as I clutched my right shoulder with my left hand. The zombie's head was splattered all over the street, as he now lay stomach up on the pavement. I looked over at Lindsay and Cyram, and saw that they were staring straight at me. I looked back down at the zombie, whose blood was still pouring out of its neck.

"You like that?" I said, spitting on it. I looked at the revolver, which was barely silver anymore, I let go of my right shoulder, as the pain began to slowly go away, and jogged back towards Lindsay and Cyram. "You alright?" I asked Lindsay, who looked like she had just seen a ghost. Couldn't blame her though… Right?

"I guess so… You?" she said, looking up at my bloodied face.

"Yeah… I'm fine…," I lied. Of course I wasn't fine… I just killed three 'people'… Even though it was self-defense, and they were zombies, your first kill always takes a toll on you, right…? I'm also trenched with blood from the bastards… I looked over at Cyram, who still had a very shock-filled expression on his face. "Let's get inside," I said turning towards the door.

"Wait," Lindsay said, just as I took a step up a stair. I turned back towards her, as she opened her truck. "We gotta get my stuff!"

**Muhaha! Finally! I break the gender barrier! And what better time than on Valentine's Day… How do you like that?**

**I'm sure ALL of you are anxious to know her description… Well, me and my editor couldn't find an appropriate place to put the description in this chapter… So, you will find it in the next chapter. **

**Holy crap… I just realized I didn't describe myself yet… Umm… Poo… Okay, my character is six foot one (I put something like that… At age fifteen, I'm five foot seven… Hey, I can dream!), blue eyes, and has short hair… But not bald… You get what I mean? I suppose you could put me under average for everything else… I'm so bad at describing myself… But, I hope I got a decent image... **

**Anyway… I have all of next week off, so I will probably knock off two chapters in that week (I'm not promising anything, just speculating)… So, be alert! **

**Until next time… **


	6. Day Two: Protection

**Muhaha… I return for yet another chapter!**

**This chapter was kind of rushed, as I really wanted this to get this out within a week's time… But, I think I did a good job. **

**So, read… Enjoy… Review… **

"You _are_ kidding… Right?" I asked Lindsay, hoping for a yes. I mean, I was nearly covered from head to toe in another man's blood… Yet she had already begun to pick up one of three suitcases from the trunk, but put it back after some thinking.

"Hmm… Well, I suppose we could get it later… Yes, that's a good idea… Let's get you cleaned up," she said, pushing the suitcase back in its place and shutting the trunk. I love how she starts to randomly speak out loud to herself… Kind of like the same thing that I do in certain situations. I then turned around and walked up the small flight of stairs as she clicked her car shut with its remote on her key-chain. _It would probably be a good idea to call the police and tell them about the dead bodies… Especially the one that was still laying down in the driveway… _

"Should we not call the police and tell them all that went on?" Cyram said as we walked into the living room. _Never ceases to amaze me…_

"Umm… Yeah… That would probably be a good idea… But, would you mind if I wash myself off first?" I said, turning towards Cyram. We were now standing in a little triangle, with Cyram across from me, and Lindsay to left of me, almost directly in the middle of the two of us. I hadn't taken the time to examine Lindsay thus far. Her hair was in its normal position… Streaks of her beautiful blonde hair was covering her right eye, while her left eye was completely shown. Her ears held two small, gold loop earrings, the same ones that I bought her for her birthday last year. Her eyes were a deep, dark blue, and sometimes looked as if they were the depths of the ocean. Below her eyes was a medium sized nose, not too narrow and not too wide, and freckles sprinkled along her cheeks. I wasn't a big fan of freckles, but it was a nice touch on God's part. Around her neck was a silver necklace, with a time piece hanging on the end of it about an inch or two above the bosom. This necklace has been around her neck everyday for as long as I have known her. She was wearing a blue t-shirt, which showed little to no cleavage, which wasn't rare for her. The blue t-shirt was tucked into a pair of dark blue jeans, which were cuffed up around five inches above the ankles. She had a thin, black belt going around the jeans, which was completely unnecessary, but she wore it, anyway. Each of her wrists had identical gold bracelets, which were two sizes too big and sometimes went over her wrist onto her fingers. The index finger of her left hand held a beautiful ruby ring, which I had gotten her for on our three year anniversary. She had a similar ruby ring, but somehow lost it about a week or so before that anniversary, so I thought it would be appropriate to get her another one. She was wearing black Nike sneakers, with short white socks.

"Sure, go ahead," said Cyram as he nodded his head.

"Alright… Well, Cyram, help Lindsay get her stuff inside… And then call the police when you are done with that, they should get here around the same time I get done," I said, turning towards Lindsay.

"Right," she said, turning towards the doorway, followed by Cyram.

"Wait… Cyram…," I called out to him, as he was halfway out the door. I dug into my pocket, and pulled out the case of the six bullets for the revolver.

"What?" he said, turning around.

"Take this," I said, holding out the revolver. Blood still dripped slightly off of the gun, so I wiped the remains off. Looking down the barrel, I noticed there was a chunk of something lodged inside. I gripped the revolver around the cache, and started to shake it up and down. After four shakes, the chunk fell out. Nobody bothered to inspect it any further. Cyram looked wide-eyed, as he grabbed the revolver and bullet case. "You got some experience, right?"

"A bit…" he said, putting the bullets in his left pocket, and the revolver in his right.

"Alright… Well, keep an eye out," I said to them. "I should be out in ten minutes or so." They both said two words of agreement in unison, and I couldn't make out either of them. They then headed out the front door towards her car. I was slightly worried about the two of them… But, Cyram should know what to do if anything happens… _Never mind that… Just hurry up… Everything will be fine…_

I went into the bedroom and pulled out a pair of charcoal-gray shorts and matching shirt, as well as a pair of new socks that were tainted as well. Just to make the shower complete, I grabbed a new pair of boxers which had a flannel pattern on it. The shoes had a small amount of blood on them, but could easily be washed off. I put the new set of clothes down on the bed as I took my shoes off and placed them away and to the left of the fallen pile of shoes. Before I left the bedroom, I kicked the pile of shoes into the closet, closed the closet door, and then picked the clothes back up. Before actually leaving I glanced over at the clock, which read 5:17 P.M.

I walked into the bathroom, and put the new set of clothes on the little shelf by the sink. As I closed the door, I grabbed a blue towel from the towel rack, which was behind the door. I put the towel on the side of the sink, and then relieved myself in the toilet. I avoided contact with the mirror, as I didn't want to see how bad I looked at the current moment. I took the clothes that I was wearing off and dropped them into the empty hamper next to the sink. I pulled the shower curtains open towards the left side of me, and then reached over and turned the water on. Just as I did this, I heard the front door open, and the sound of voices, which I could not make out at this point. I heard a slight thump, and just assumed that it was one of the suitcases. I pulled on the tab on the top of the shower pipe, and I then turned on the handle of the knob that controlled the temperature of the water and put it in the middle of "Normal" and "Hot", just the way I like it. I then hopped in, and shut the shower curtains.

I closed my eyes, and put my face in front of the showerhead, feeling the blood wash off of my skin. I turned my head down and began to rub my hands in my hair in an attempt to clean out all the blood and gunk that may be in there. I backed away from the showerhead and opened my eyes. I then turned my hands into a fist and thus began to rub the water out of my eyes. I looked down towards the drain as I noticed how some of the blood was swimming towards it. I stood there for a moment letting the water rinse all of the blood away and then watch it splash down the drain.

I turned around and let the water spray onto my back, which was very relaxing to me. I stared down at the floor, thinking long and hard about the events that had just taken place. I had bought that revolver and taken lessons just incase. I had never lived a dangerous life, but I thought it would be better suited to have a firearm in the household. Just incase. The lessons that I had taken with the revolver were not that long, about an hour-a-day for a month. Learning to reload, aim well, how to aim, how to deal with the recoil, how to clean it. I had not learned how to use many other guns, though I was also taught how to use a shotgun and a rifle with a scope, but that was it. The cost was very little, but the knowledge was always good. Just in the matter that I would ever need it.

These _things_… The way they move… Act… Attack… Everything seemed very familiar to me. Like some sort of _nightmare_… Zombies, I would call them… _Zombies_… I had remembered an old childhood scare that had to deal with zombies… The ultimate nightmare to me was being chased by a huge humanoid, which was called "Nemesis" in the video games… _It_ was probably the only thing I would literally cry over if I ever ran into it… _Nemesis_…

_You know there are no such thing… Don't scare yourself anymore than you are already… Just keep your cool… _

It was hard, but I had reasoned with myself to not think about anything of this. _Just people… Wanting to eat you… Cannibals… _

I turned around and faced towards the showerhead, and I then grabbed the shampoo bottle that was on the shower rack. I squirted some of the shampoo into my left hand using my right. Then, I put the shampoo bottle back onto the rack, and then ran the shampoo into my hair with my left hand. Then I began to rub the top of my head with both hands, spreading all of the shampoo throughout my hair. I then let it sit for a minute or two, just as the bottle suggests.

I couldn't stop thinking about _It_ anymore… The ultimate nightmare… How would I be able to sleep tonight in peace, and not sorrow or disbelief? I felt that my death was inevitable, unless I did _something_…

_Flee the city…_

After counting a hundred and twenty Mississippi's, I directed the showerhead onto my hair, and then flattened my hands onto my hair in an attempt to squeeze all of the shampoo that was still left, out of my hair. Normally I would do this for two minutes as well… But I was in somewhat of a hurry.

I heard another thud outside of the bathroom, and then I heard what seemed to be my bedroom door, shut. The bang did not sound like the bang of a gun or anything, but it was pretty loud. Louder than the previous thud. _Stop being so paranoid… Take your mind off all of that crap… _

I heard Lindsay's voice from outside the bathroom. I couldn't make out what she was saying, but she was definitely talking to Cyram, as I heard his voice as well.

I grabbed a bar of fresh soap from the rack under the shower head, and began to apply it to my left leg. I wasn't doing this very meticulously like I normally would, just one quick scrub.

I moved the bar of soap over to my right leg and began applying the soap in identical ways to that of my left leg. After finishing that, I directed the showerhead downwards and I cleaned off the soap on both legs.

I heard Lindsay's voice outside of the bathroom once more. This time, Cyram's voice was not heard… _She's calling the police… Not to worry, they won't show up for a while, anyway. I'm sure this isn't their first call about bodies, right?_

I started to apply the soap to my left arm. Going up and down on all four sides, and focusing mainly on the arm pit. Lindsay's voice was still in the background, as I moved onto the right arm, applying the soap the same way I did on the left arm.

I heard the basement door open and then close soon after, as Lindsay's voice moved on to the kitchen. _Seems as though Cyram went into the basement… _

I applied the soap to my chest and the rest of my upper body, parts of my face, neck, and whatever I could reach on the back. I directed the showerhead towards the middle of my chest, putting my arms in front to clear them off and turned around to wash the soap off my back. When I was completely soap free, I turned the water off, and opened the shower curtains.

I reached over the toilet onto the side of the sink where the towel was. I grabbed the towel and dried myself off inside of the shower. I didn't completely dry myself off, but just enough so that I wasn't dripping wet.

I put the towel back on the towel rack to dry, and then put on my new set of clothes. Behind the door was nothing but silence.

I opened up the bathroom door and peaked out to look for anyone. But there were no sign of life. I crept out of the bathroom, and skulked over to the bedroom and peaked inside. The curtains were out of place, and the telephone wasn't on the receiver. This led me to believe that they were outside, or in the basement.

I walked out of the bedroom, and noticed that the basement door was wide open. Perhaps I did not hear Cyram return from the basement… I walked further into the kitchen, and noticed that it was barren, as well. I felt a gust of wind coming from the living room…

I walked into the living room, and noticed that the front door was left open, yet again. But, still, I heard nothing. One would think they would be talking out there... Not even a flashing light, or a car, or a person could be seen from this angle. I didn't have a view on my neighbor's driveway, so I couldn't tell if that body was still there or not. Turning around, I went back into the bedroom to get a pair of shoes so I could investigate the outside.

I opened the closet door, and nearly tripped over the pile of shoes that were on the floor. _Do you remember anything you do?_

I randomly picked out a pair of charcoal-gray shoes and slipped them on. Looking further, I noticed that the safe was still open. Just as I was going to go to the safe, I heard footsteps on the stairs in front of the house. _Could this be…_

I ran to the back of the closet, and pulled out the combat knife I had purchased along with the revolver. This combat knife was nearly a foot long, and could almost be considered a dagger in some places. Also, it had the word "Bird" inscribed along the knife itself. Looked really cool…

I heard the footsteps walk across the kitchen floor, as I moved out of the closet, trying to make my presence unknown. I put my back against the wall next to the closet, which was right in front of the entrance to the bedroom. I have investigated before, and concluded that I could not be seen by from the outside of the bedroom. _Stealth…_

I heard the footsteps get closer and closer to the bedroom, and I got ready to attack, if necessary. I heard the bathroom door creak open, and I quickly darted my head around the doorway to see who was there.

"Looking for me?" I said, stepping into the bedroom doorway. Lindsay turned around in complete surprise.

"Umm… Yeah, what were you doing in there?" she said, giggling.

"Well… I didn't know it was _you_ that came into the house, if you know what I mean," I said, showing her the knife. I had shown her this knife along with the revolver before, so she knew that I could provide protection here.

"I see…," she said, crossing her arms and looking down at the floor. She looked a little nervous, like she wanted to say something but just couldn't.

"So… What's up? Where's Cyram?"

"Well, he's outside with the police right now. After we took all the stuff inside I parked my car into the driveway, and then called the police. They said they would be here in a few minutes, so we waited outside. After waiting a few minutes, the guy in the driveway… Woke up… And started to walk towards us. Cyram was about to get up and go shoot at the guy, but then the cops showed up, and took him down for him… It was quite interesting, though," Lindsay explained.

"Oh… Well, I suppose we should go out there with him, right?" I said. I found it quite amusing how she was acting as if it was nothing…

"Yeah… They are probably going to want a word with you," she said, smiling.

"Figured…," I said with a laugh. I went to go put the knife into my left pocket, but then I noticed that these shorts had no pockets. So, I picked my shirt up and put the knife between my shorts and my side, handle up. I let go of my shirt, and walked by Lindsay towards the front door. "You can stay here if you would like," I said, turning back to her.

"Nah… I wanna see what happens," she said, uncrossing her arms.

"Alright," I said with a chuckle, as I headed into the living room. As I walked into the living room, I saw Cyram sitting on the steps looking to his left. The floor boards creaked as I walked on them, which alerted him. He looked over his left shoulder, and noticed that we were walking towards him. He slowly got up, and stood there as we exited the house.

"So what took you so long?" Cyram asked with a slight chuckle. His right hand held the revolver.

"Bah… I heard you almost killed one!" I said, laughing. _So… It's a joke to kill one of these guys now, is it? _

"Just about," he said laughing. I looked in the background, and noticed that a SWAT team was actually called in, along with the police. A huge black truck with the word 'SWAT' on it was in front of the house next to mine, and two police cars were in front of the truck.

"They must be serious," I said, looking over by the SWAT team. There were about ten men dressed up in SWAT gear, and four cops looking over everything. An ambulance stormed down from up the street, and parked in front of the house directly across from me.

"Yep," Lindsay said from behind me. She was leaning against the house, with her arms and legs crossed. Cyram shook his head, and looked over as the paramedics began taking the bodies away on stretchers.

"What do they need them bodies for, anyway?" I asked. I figured it was for scientific research… But, did they really need stretchers and such?

"I suppose for the scientists. They still don't know why so many people have this virus, and what the virus is doing to the body and how we can prevent it… So, they are collecting all the bodies, and, when they find out they are useless, they burn them," Lindsay said. Seems as though she knows everything…

"I see… How do you know this stuff?" I asked, staring up at her. I noticed that the barricades down the street were gone now, and traffic was flowing just as much as it usually would, except that it was a bit more backed up than normal.

"I watched the news, and read some reports on the Internet…" she said, making it seem that it was nothing. I sometimes hated how she knew everything… Though it was useful more times than not.

"I see… Well, Cyram, were they looking for me or anything?" I asked him.

"Yea, actually, the detective from earlier is here, whom is right over there," he said, pointing towards a crowd of people. I spotted the detective out of the crowd. He stuck out like a sore thumb with that hat of his. He looked up noticing me, and began to walk over, taking out a pencil from his pocket. The pad was already in his hand.

"Mister Peteroy, we meet again," he said with an abnormal smile on his face. This was the first time I had seen him smile… But, then again, I've only 'known' him for a day…

"Indeed," I said, chuckling. He put his hand out, and we shook hands.

"I see you are armed… Very good… You will need that for the night," he said, jotting some information down.

"Yes, I have a firearm," I said.

"Alright, well, will you be okay for the night?" he said, finishing whatever he was writing.

"Umm… I should be…," I said.

"What I meant was, do you have enough ammunition and other supplies?" he said.

"Yeah, I got plenty of ammo and supplies. I'll be fine," I said. It was the truth, I had planned on going target shooting after Cyram left, so I stocked up on ammunition. Surprisingly enough, it was on sale.

"Okay, good. We are going to have SWAT units and police units watching over the area for the night, and we will most likely be evacuating tomorrow. We aren't so sure yet, but if this stuff keeps up, we may not have any choice left, you know?" he said, putting the pencil back in his pocket.

"I understand," I said, suddenly wondering about Colomb. _You have to get Colomb with you… _

"Alright, you'll get a call on further information if this is actually happening. Are you two staying over?" he asked Lindsay and Cyram.

"Yes," Lindsay said.

"Yeah," Cyram said.

"Good. Stay with him, he'll protect you," he said, winking at me. "Good day," he said, walking away.

"You'll protect us! What about me! Oh I hate that guy," Cyram said.

"Hmph… Well, let's get inside. I think it'll be a good idea if Colomb comes over… Right?"

"Sure, oh _wonderful_," Cyram said.

"Sure it would," Lindsay said, nearly at the same time. They both looked at each other, and then we all started to laugh a little.

"Alright, then… Let's get inside," I said, turning around and going inside my house. Cyram followed me inside, and Lindsay followed in after. I looked up at the clock, which read 6:25 P.M. _gets darker in an hour or so… _I closed and locked the front door, leaving the men to work in silence.

"Well, it's almost six thirty… How's dinner sound?" Lindsay asked.

"Dinner? Sounds wonderful! Let me call up Colomb to see if he is coming, first," I said.

"Okay, I'll go see what you have," she said, turning around, and heading towards the kitchen.

"And I will stand here and wait!" Cyram said. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, or serious.

"No you aren't. Come with me," I said, walking towards the bedroom.

"Crap," Cyram said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Alright, I'm going to call up Colomb," I said, crawling over the bed. I picked up the phone, and dialed Colomb's number.

"Okay then," he said, sitting on the bed. He placed the revolver and the bullet case on the bed. Colomb's phone continuously rang in my ear on the other end. I pulled out the knife, and placed it next to the revolver. Cyram picked it up, and started to examine it. After seven or so rings, Colomb's voice mail came on. It wasn't that the cell phone was off, it was that he didn't pick up. _What if… Leave a message, anyway. _

"Hey, can't pick up right now… So, leave a message," Colomb said over the voice messaging system.

"Hey, it's Bird… Call me when you can," I said. I was never a really good at leaving messages, but I'm sure he would understand. "Well… This sucks," I said, putting the phone back on the receiver.

"Yeah..." Cyram said, rotating the combat knife in his hand.

"Cool, eh?" I said, laughing.

"Why didn't you tell me you had some of this stuff?" He then brought the knife up to his arm and let it glide over his skin for a bit. He looked at the skin and smirked since it seemed it did not cut him.

"Didn't want to make you think I would kill you," I said. I couldn't really find an honest answer as to why I didn't tell him about it, but that's the best one I can come up with.

"Ah, well, do you know anything about where we will be going if we are evacuated?" Cyram asked.

"I don't know… I have a few places in mind," I said, thinking about that for a moment. _Where will they put us…_

"Okay then," he said, his arm started to bleed, he stared at it for a second before putting the knife down next to the revolver. "You got any other guns in here?" Cyram asked. I heard the sound of people running across the road outside…

"No… This is all we have, aside from the extra ammo I got." I really wish I did buy an extra handgun or something… But, I suppose nobody could ever predict something like this. A robber? Maybe. An assassinator? Probably not. Mindless zombies? Hmm… Definitely not. I heard footsteps moving across the hallway, as Lindsay popped her head into the door way.

"How does macaroni with meat balls sound?" she said, walking in.

"Sounds pretty – " I was interrupted by the sound of massive gun fire. We all jumped up, and looked out of the window, looking for who, or what, caused the gunfire.

**I tried better on the ending… But, is it only Cyram that has complaints about the ending? If you review, let me know **

**And… Umm… Expect another chapter in about a week… **

**Until next time… **


	7. Day Two: You Never Know

**Yeah, yeah, yeah… I took a while… But, I got a "big" update this time! Along with this chapter, a very late prologue type thing has been added… I was thinking about adding this with this chapter, but… Meh, when you read it, you'll know why I decided to make it the first chapter. The prologue "deeply" describes the storyline, and basically alludes to what I'm going to be doing in the later chapters… More chapters like the prologue (you will see what I mean when you read it) will probably be added in, to give you some more storyline updates and such… So, read that first! Also, the summary as been updated with a more fitting summary…**

**Anyway, I worked a little longer on this chapter… If you notice a distinct difference in word usage and sentence structure and some dialogue… There is a reason for it… ¬¬**

**Yeah, so read and review… **

Looking out the window, I could spot the entire SWAT team, as well as the police officers, firing their assorted weapons at three dogs, which appeared to be Dobermann. They had blood and bite marks, as a few bullet holes, all over their bodies. Along with this, parts of their internal organs and ribcage were exposed. They were very fast, and, obviously, threatening. The SWAT team and police officers were slightly scattered around the area, not keeping much of a tight perimeter.

The dogs suddenly split up, and each one darted towards one of the men. One jumped at a scrawny police officer, easily taking him down hard to the ground. The dog completely tore apart his neck area. The police officer's legs were abnormally twitching, as the dog feasted on his jugular. A SWAT team member next to the downed police officer kicked the dog off of the cop, leaving the dog on it's back. He pulled the trigger of his automatic back, with the barrel really close to the dog's face, and emptied the rest of the clip. It seemed as though the dog was left lifeless.

Another one of the dogs jumped after a SWAT member, but he swiftly rolled out of the way, leaving the dog to land right in front of another SWAT member's shotgun. The dog's snout was literally inside of the shotgun's barrel. The police officer pulled back on the trigger, leaving the dog headless, as well as lifeless.

The other dog was running far off to a police officer who was clearly alone. He was nearly bald, but the remains of his hair were a blend of gray and white. His face was wrinkled with age, but he was quite robust. The dog took three bullets from the man's handgun, as well as some of the spray from one of the SWAT team members. The police officer fired another round, barely missing the dog's face and hitting him in the back instead. He pulled the trigger back once again, but nothing shot out. He dug into his pocket for another clip, as the dog jumped up to take him down.

A few members from the SWAT team turned their attention towards this, as this was all happening slightly after the other two incidents. They desperately wanted to fire their guns, but firing would of hit the police officer as well as the dog. So, instead, they ran over so that they could hit the dog off as quickly as possible.

The police officer took his hand out of his pocket, and dropped the handgun clip on the pavement, as he was startled as he looked back up and saw the dog lunging at him. He put his left arm in front of his face quickly for defense. The dog nearly took the police officer down, as he dug his teeth into the man's left arm, pulling back on it as hard as he could.

The SWAT team member who was closest to the scene pulled back on his automatic's trigger, sending around five bullets at the dog. I saw a bunch of little squirts of blood, as the dog fell to the ground in a pool of its own blood. The SWAT member pumped his fist, obviously happy that he didn't shoot the police officer.

The police officer fell on to one knee, as he was clutching his left arm hard. He was obviously in another world of pain. From the inside of my house, I could hear him screaming in all of the agony from the dog bite. He slowly dropped the handgun to the floor, as the crew began to surround him. Surprisingly, an ambulance was nowhere to be found. I looked back at the other police officer who had his throat pulled out. Nobody was giving him attention… _I guess they already gave up on him…_

One of the SWAT members pulled out a radio, and started to scream into it. I couldn't make out any of the words, as the window was closed. Along with that, the house had a pretty darn good sound proof system. Only _really_ loud sounds penetrated in, and out, of the house.

"Cannibalistic humans… Now flesh craving dogs… What the heck is going on?" Lindsay rhetorically asked.

"If we all knew, we probably wouldn't be in this mess," I said, not taking my eyes off of the scene outside.

"You think we should go out there and check on the guy?" Lindsay asked. She knew a lot of first aid.

"I think the ambulance is the best bet right now. They'll probably be here in a minute or two," I said, not wanting to get involved.

"Yeah, hopefully," Lindsay said. My cell phone started to vibrate loudly on the nightstand by my bed. I picked it up, looking at the caller identification, noticing that it was Colomb who was calling.

"It's Colomb," I said to Lindsay and Cyram, sounding quite excited. I still had my eyes focused on the police officer, but I couldn't see anything since most of the crew was crowded around him. Two SWAT team members were over by the other body, one was kneeling down next to him, and one was standing on guard. The cell phone vibrated once again in my hands, reminding me that I had a call. "Dude, what's up?"

"Bird?" Colomb asked on the other side of the phone. His voice was low, and he was breathing heavily.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" I said, sounding concerned.

"One of those bastards broke into my house," he said. It sounded as though he just opened up a door.

"Are you hurt?" I asked, hoping to hear, 'No, I'm just out of breath,' or something like that.

"Yes… He bit me twice," he said. I could hear cars in the background. _God dammit…_

"Shit, man… Shit… Are you outside? How did you get rid of him? Where is he?"

"I'm coming to your house right now… I called up the ambulance, but they wouldn't be able to pick me up for another ten or so minutes," he explained. _Damn bastards…_

"Alright… Alright… Which route are you taking?" I said, picking up the revolver off of the bed.

"Main Street," he said. I could hear that his feet were shuffling along the pavement… _Not a good sign…_

"Okay. I'm coming," I said, getting up from off of the bed.

"What? No… I'm okay… I got a knife," he said.

"A knife? You'll kill yourself. Don't worry, I'm coming," I said, picking up the bullet case.

"_You_ will kill yourself coming here… Don't worry… The main roads are full with cops and shit," he said.

"I'll be right back," I said to Lindsay and Cyram. They both shook their heads in an affirmative manner. _Hope they heard the conversation..._

"What?" Colomb said on the other line.

"I was telling them I would be back," I said to Colomb, leaving the bedroom. I walked swiftly through the hall, into the living room. I noticed that Lindsay's suitcases were still in the living room… I decided it would probably be best to forget about them now, and go to Colomb. I went out the front door, being sure to close it.

"No… Stay there," he said. "It's too far… And too dangerous…"

"It's too far? It's four blocks away. And, just as you said, the roads are full of cops," I said, walking down the small flight of stairs. I heard a loud siren, as an ambulance turned up my street, zooming up past me. _I suppose they show up quicker for the force… Can't really blame them, though… Wonder how many casualties there have been thus far?_

Colomb started to speak, but not on the phone. _Perhaps a police officer stopped him?_

"Bird… Bird?" Colomb said quickly.

"Yeah, I'm on Main Street now," I said, turning the corner. The sidewalk here was a little crumpled, and tainted with flames and blood from the crash a few hours ago.

"Turn around… The cops are taking me to the hospital, along with two other people," he said.

"Ask them if I can go with you."

"Why the fuck do you want to come?"

"I want to make sure you'll be alright," I said, spotting a crowd of people two blocks away. I began to jog towards the scene. I heard Colomb talking to the police officers, but couldn't make out any of the words yet again.

"They said there isn't enough room. I'll call you when I get there," he said. "I gotta go now."

"Alright… Call me," I said, slowing down to a stop. I heard him hang up his phone, and I did as well. The small crowd of people two blocks away disappeared into the police car, and they drove away, not passing me. "God, dammit," I said aloud.

I turned around and began heading back to the house. _Sure hope Colomb makes it… Wonder if they even have a cure for this virus, or whatever the hell this is, yet… Well, I'm sure they do… Why else would they take him away? Perhaps research? Whatever that means, anyway… _

I turned up my street, and quickly noticed that the ambulance was already gone. However, the SWAT team truck was still parked in front of my house. I couldn't see if the police cars were still there or not. Regardless, all of the dead bodies, including the dog's, were nowhere to be found.

The SWAT team members were now surveying the area, walking up and down the street. Alert for the worst. One of the members was walking my way, and immediately pointed his gun up at me. I halted as he slowly walked towards me. He was looking at me for any type of zombie-like actions. He lowered his gun down to his side when he noticed I was human, and began walking towards me at a normal pace.

"Sorry about that… Didn't know if you were one of _them_ or not," he said in a normal accent. He was about my height, his skin slightly tanned, brown eyes, and I couldn't tell if he had any hair or not due to that helmet he was wearing. Always loved the SWAT uniform…

"That's alright… I would of done the same thing," I said, chuckling.

"Yeah, town is going crazy… Anyway, what are you doing out here?" he said, getting back to his job.

"I live in the house your truck is parked by," I said, pointing up the street. By lifting my arm up, my shirt lifted up as well, revealing the gun I had in my left pocket. He noticed the gun, and didn't even bother to look back to where I was pointing.

"Let me see that," he said, nodding at the revolver.

"Sure," I said, pulling it out of my pocket. I handed it to him, and he took it with his right hand.

"Nice gun," he said, looking at it from all angles. He aimed the gun to the side with one hand, and pretended to shoot it. "Real nice."

"Thanks… Got it a few years ago… Didn't think I would need it for _this_, though," I said, as he opened up the chamber.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he said with a chuckle. "I see you've shot three bullets… How many did you kill?" he said, shutting it and looking back up at me.

"Three," I said with a grin, taking the gun back.

"Wow, nice job! You should join us!" he said, laughing.

"I've always thought about that… Been one of my ideal jobs as a teenager," I said, laughing with him.

"Oh yeah? It's not that hard to get in… Just need good aim and good team work, along with a crap load of patience," he said.

"So I have been told… Well, if you need me, you know where to find me," I said, signifying that I really wanted to leave.

"Alright, dude. Stay sharp," he said, saluting. I gave him a salute as well, and then headed up to the house. I looked back, as he started to walk down to his post, which seemed to be the corner of the street. I could spot six other SWAT members scattered along the street. There were at least four more, but they could be in backyards, on the other side of the street, inside a house, anywhere. I started to jog up the street, since I already wasted a few minutes talking with that guy. Didn't want them to think I got in a battle or anything like that…

The other SWAT guys just nodded at me, as I made my way up the block. I ran up the steps, into the house. I was greeted by Lindsay and Cyram both in the living room, sitting on the couch. Cyram had the knife grasped in his hands, and Lindsay was sitting with her arms folded two seats away from him. Lindsay jumped up out of her seat, having a slightly delayed reaction to my entrance.

"What happened?" Lindsay asked, nearly running over to me.

"Colomb is being escorted to the hospital by the police," I explained.

"Is everything alright? Why are you breathing heavy?" she said, examining me closer.

"I ran home… Everything is alright, none of the bastards were around," I said, trying to knock off further suspicion.

"Alright, alright… Well, dinner will be ready in ten or so minutes," she said, turning out of the living room.

"Bah…," I said under my breath. "Be right back," I said to Cyram, as I exited the living room. I think he muttered something under his breath, but I couldn't make out any words. As I entered the hallway, I looked back and noticed that Lindsay was testing the taste of a piece of pasta. _Should be ready soon…_

I entered the bedroom, and noticed that the curtains were put back to their normal positions. Lindsay was a sort of neat freak, so it didn't surprise me as much as it should have. I went to go kick my shoes off, but quickly thought twice about it. _What if something else happens? You wasted precious seconds last time, and could have caused death of your friends, just because you didn't have shoes on… Pity…_

I kept the shoes on, and opened up the closet door, looking over my shoulder at the clock as I walked in. I took two steps into the closet, and immediately tripped over the pile of shoes. I landed flat on my face, with a loud thud. As I fell, I didn't get a chance to put my hands out in front to protect myself, since everything happened so fast and I wasn't paying attention to what was in front of me. _Nice one! _

I let out a soft grunt as I ascended from the floor. I put my right hand to my face, and noticed that the left side of my lip was bleeding. Wasn't much blood, but it was still bleeding.

"Son of a bitch," I muttered to myself, as I got into a full stance. I kicked the pile of shoes three times, as I got all of them out of the closet.

"What was that?" Lindsay called out from the kitchen.

"Nothing… Just dropped something," I lied to her. Well, I wouldn't really call it a lie… I did drop something… Though that _something_ was _myself_…

"Okay," she called out from the kitchen, much lower this time.

"God dammit," I whispered to myself again, as I wiped more blood off of my lip. Ignoring the bleeding, I shuffled to the end of the closet, where the spotlights were shinning brightly on the open safe. I looked inside, and noticed that the suitcase full of money was still there, locked. Also, behind the suitcase, there was a black shoe box. The black shoe box held all of the ammunition I had, the holster for the revolver, the case the knife came with, and the brace I had forgotten before. I picked up the box, and took it with me as I left the closet, I put the box on my bed, and placed the shoes back on the shoe rack… Once again.

Leaving the shoe box on the bed, I swiftly made it out of the bedroom, and into the bathroom. Gladly, nobody bothered to look as I went in. I turned on the sink, and started to wash the left part of my lip off with cold water. I did this for a minute or so, licking the blood off as I went. For some odd reason, the taste of my own blood satisfied my taste buds sometimes… To make this trip to the bathroom useful, other than to wash the blood off, I relieved myself, and washed my hands.

The clock turned to 7:00 P.M. just as I re-entered the bedroom and picked up the shoe box. I exited the bedroom, and headed towards the living room. Cyram was still in the same spot on the couch, sitting in silence, twirling the knife in his hands.

"You _could_ of put on the TV you know," I said, sitting next to him with the shoe box in my lap.

"Well, I thought I wouldn't watch the news until we were all here," Cyram said, finally taking his attention off the knife.

"Who said you had to watch the news?" I said to him, opening up the shoe box.

"Well, that _is_ the only thing I would be interested in right now… What's _that_?" he asked, pointing at the box.

"It's the treasure chest!" I said, showing him the cases of ammunition that were inside, along with the two holsters and the brace. I didn't count the cases myself, but there looked to be about a dozen cases of ammunition in there.

"That's a _lot_ of ammo you got there… Stocking up for something?" he said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I predicted that one day zombies would roam the earth, destroying everything in their path… And I would be the one with no ammo or anything, and die by their undead hands… So, I bought all of this," I said, laughing with him.

"You never know," he said, pulling out one of the cases, and examining the six bullets that it contained. I started to do a quick count, and counted eleven cases, including the one in my pocket, and the one in Cyram's hand. _Off by one… But, originally you did have twelve… _

"We got sixty-nine bullets to work off of… Shouldn't be that hard, eh?" I said.

"Sixty-nine?" he said, laughing.

"Yeah… Eleven cases that have six bullets each, plus the three I have in here," I said, picking up the gun and waving it in the air. A few seconds afterward, I noticed that he was probably laughing at the number.

"Ahh… Yeah, but why _do_ you have this much?" he questioned.

"I go to the shooting gallery a lot," I explained.

"Why in the hell didn't you ever tell me?"

"What, do you think my part time job is assassinating people?" I said, laughing.

"You never know," Cyram said with a grin. I heard the sound of the pasta being tossed in the kitchen.

"You're right… You never know… Well, dinner is almost ready," I said, closing the box and getting off of the couch. I took the revolver with me just incase, but didn't take any of the cases with me.

"How do _you_ know?" Cyram asked, getting off of the couch as well. I didn't bother to answer him, as I entered the kitchen.

"Oh, I was just about to call you guys in," she said with a look of a surprise on her face as she turned to me.

"What can I tell you… I'm telepathic!" I said laughing.

"I haven't heard that one before!" she sarcastically said.

"Yeah, yeah… Well, what do you want to drink?" I said, opening up the refrigerator.

"I'll take water," she said.

"What about you, Cyram?" I said, grabbing a root beer can and a water bottle and putting them in on the table.

"Sprite," he said, walking in. I grabbed one out and gave it to him. There were four chairs on the circular table that was in the middle of the room. The chairs were made of a dark brown wood, and had two arms rests. There were cushions where you would rest your arms, back, and sit on the chair. I sat down in the comfortable chair, resting for a minute.

"Alright, who's first?" Lindsay said, pulling three big plates out of the cabinet that was right above the sink.

"Me!" Cyram exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his seat. The seat he sat it was closest to the sink. I was sitting closest to the back door… Just incase. The SWAT squads probably wouldn't be able to go into backyards. I suppose it could be for privacy issues, but still. I suppose zombies walking around, killing people fails to diminish stupidity and ignorance…

"This enough?" Lindsay asked Cyram.

"Yes, thank you," Cyram said, sitting back down. I didn't look at Cyram's plate as I got up and walked over to where Lindsay was serving dinner. I took one of the two plates, and handed it to her. She began to pour rigatoni into the plate. Rigatoni is a form of pasta that is shaped like a cylinder, but its hollow. Rigatoni with meat balls is my absolute favorite dish that anyone could make me.

"One or two?" she asked me, referring to the meat balls.

"Just one," I said. She put one on the plate.

"Anymore sauce?" she asked.

"No, that's good," I said. I never liked a lot of sauce on my pasta.

"Okay," she said, handing me back the plate.

"Thank you," I said, going back to the table. I sat back down into my seat, and put my plate on the table. I was starving, since I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast, which was around noon. But, normally when ever I am starving I don't eat as much as I think I could. Lindsay got herself a plate, served herself, and sat down in the seat across from me, with Cyram on her left. We all started to savagely dig into our plates. We ate quickly and pretty much silently, with bits and pieces of small talk. 'So, what do you do? Where did you come from? How'd you get here?' You know… Bullshit. But, I didn't mind it at all. All I wanted to do was eat and get my mind off of certain things, though that could be the wrong thing to do. Focus on the problem and find a solution… Forget about the problem, and let it all fall down on top of you… I'll go with focus on the problem and find a quick, yet adequate, solution.

"Well… That was amazing," I said, finishing up my plate. Lindsay and Cyram still had some left in their plates. They were nearly finished, though.

"I must agree," Cyram said, finishing off the last piece of pasta, about a half a minute after I finished.

"Aww… Thanks, guys," Lindsay said, finishing her plate up. I picked up my plate and fork, and put it on the left side of the sink. Lindsay picked up her plate, along with Cyram's plate, and put it on the left side of the sink.

"I have to use the bathroom," Cyram said, getting out of his seat.

"Alright," I said, as he left the kitchen. I followed Cyram with my eyes, as he disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door so lightly, that it didn't even make a noise as it shut.

"You should probably cheer up your friend… He seems a bit mellow right now," Lindsay said lowly, as she started to do the dishes.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," I said just as low, crushing the root beer can and tossing it into the recycle bin.

"Play one of those video games with him… I'll do these dishes and watch you guys afterwards, I guess. Make sure it is one that he could succeed in, you know?" she said, as I crushed the Sprite can, placing it in the recycle bin.

"Yeah, I get what you mean," I said. Lindsay's water bottle still had some water left, so I left it in it's spot.

"Good. I don't suggest watching the news with him… Unless he really, really wants to. But I wouldn't expect that… Hmm… What could we do… We could watch some movie later on tonight, right?"

"Sounds like a plan. Well, let's hope nothing else bad happens tonight… Or tomorrow… Or the next day…," I said. I heard the toilet flush in the background.

"Yeah, this crap needs to end," she said. Cyram exited the bathroom about thirty seconds after.

"Hey, Cyram, want to play some HALO?" I asked him, as he entered the kitchen.

"Uhh… Sure," he said, after thinking for a moment. _What the hell was he thinking?_

"Alright," I said, walking past him into the living room. I heard his footsteps following. I walked over to the plasma, dropping to one knee so I could go in the display case. I pulled out the XBOX Three, and two controllers. HALO Four was already in the XBOX. _That is a really bad habit…_

"Are we going to do one versus one or campaign?" Cyram asked, as I plugged the wires into the plasma, and the electrical output.

"Campaign. Unless you don't want to," I said, handing him his controller.

"Campaign sounds fun," he said, sitting down on the part of the couch that was closet to the television.

"Alright then," I said, sitting beside him. "It's game time!"

**I decided to end this chapter with basically no cliffhanger type thingies! Tell me how it is… **

**It probably won't be happening much… But, I thought this was a good spot to end this chapter **

**More to come… **


	8. Day Two: Anticipation

**Sorry for the delayed update… I was careless of my time, and wasted most of it doing absolutely nothing… **

**Well, actually, I played a lot of Resident Evil Rebirth… Maybe too much… I beat Chris' story on Hard Mode (dying only twice!), and started Jill's story on Hard Mode. Why? I don't know… **

**Anyway… Nobody commented on the prologue. Now, I don't know if that's good or bad. I would appreciate if I can get any feedback of the prologue… Any… I don't care if you tell me it's down right awful, and you printed it out and used it as a piece of toilet paper to – **

**Err…**

**So, yeah… I liked the outcome of this chapter… Unlike Chapter Six, Cyram helped me out with his lines and some of his actions. Some of the stuff he says is completely unnatural (and considered incorrect in my mind), but he insisted that's the way he speaks… So, if you have any complaints, talk to him. **

**But, like Chapter Six, I was the only editor. **

**Read… Review… All that jazz… I'll try to get another chapter up quick… **

**(Author notes at end…)**

We played campaign mode for about an hour and a half, beating around a fourth of the game on the second hardest difficulty. It wasn't as tough as it sounds, since we were both veterans at the game. However, we were mainly messing around. You know, blowing up the Marines, killing each other in funny ways, searching for the many Easter eggs the game held… Stuff like that. I was looking to have fun rather than trying really hard and being serious about it. This was extremely rare of me… As I normally take everything I do seriously. Just one of the many traits I have that are considered bad by many people.

However, the enjoyable times during our gaming session were ruined by the vast gun shots heard in the background every so often. I wasn't sure if Cyram had heard them, but I knew for a fact that Lindsay had heard them. Every time I heard one of those gun shots, I had looked up at Lindsay, who was resting on the couch while we were playing the game. Her eyes would open really wide with every shot. It wasn't like the gun shots sounded like the gun shots in the video game. No, they were much louder and more realistic sounding compared to the futuristic guns seen in the video game. However, it's been about fifteen minutes or so since I had heard a gun shot…

It was 8:43 P.M now… My worry wart for Colomb was about to explode… I couldn't stand it. My heart wanted to call him up, and see if he would answer, but my brain says that he is either unconscious or is unable to talk right now. _Listen, you told him to call you and he said that he would. There must be a pretty damn good reason why your best friend wouldn't call you in a major time of need for him… He'll be alright… _

No matter how bad my conscience tried to convince me that he would make it, the only thought going through my mind was seeing Colomb's zombie-like face behind the barrel of my revolver. How would I do it? I wouldn't be able to… I wouldn't let anyone else shoot him, either. I wouldn't be able to live likethat… How could I watch my best friend get gunned down right before my eyes and not do anything about it? Yeah, he obviously wouldn't the same person as he was before… But… It's just the principal of seeing him lose all life right before my eyes… _You can't think about that now… You have two people who are pure right now in your home, depending on you… That's what your focus should be on right now. Yes, keeping Colomb in your mind is obviously the right thing to do… But forgetting about everything else is the definitely the wrong thing to do._

I saved the game data for HALO Four… We would probably play later on tonight or tomorrow, pending on the situation at hand.

"Well… That was fun," I said, turning off the XBOX.

"Yea, I guess so," Cyram said, putting his controller down on the table in front of him. I unhooked the wires going into the plasma and the electrical plug, and put the XBOX back into it's rightful place in the display case. I took my controller, along with Cyram's, and put them in their places, too.

"Well… What now?" I asked, shutting the display case and getting up from my kneeling position. Cyram sat there with a puzzled look on his face for a moment. A look of thought. "Movie?" I asked, trying to help him out.

"Sounds good. I will go take a look at your movie selection, than," he said.

"Right where they were last night," I said, pointing at the display case under the plasma. I moved out of the way, as he got up and went straight towards the display case. He opened it up, and began scanning along the three rows of movies that I owned. I had about fifty or so movies, most were old ones that I enjoyed when I was a teenager. I haven't liked many movies that were being produced now, since they were all basically about the same topics. The only difference being different characters and dialogues and, sometimes, different jokes.

"Well... I've sorta, kinda seen all of these before," Cyram said, shutting the display case and rising from his crouch position.

"Bah… You are allowed to re-watch movies, you know," I said to him. _If he didn't want to watch a movie, he was going to want to watch the news. _

"Yea, I know… But I don't feel like watching any of _those_," he said, pointing down at the display case.

"Alright, alright… Do you have any better suggestions?" I asked him. _'Yeah, I want to watch the news!'_

"Hmph... Well then… How about the news?" he asked. _Knew it!_

"Do we have to?" I rhetorically asked him.

"Well, we don't actually have to, in the end it is up to you, hence you are the owner of the house," he said.

"Yeah, yeah…," I said. I looked down at Lindsay, remembering what she said. _'I don't suggest watching the news with him… Unless he really, really wants to.'_ "Alright… We'll watch it," I said, sitting down next to Lindsay. She scooted over to her right slightly as I sat down next to her, leaving room for Cyram.

"Well, than… _Okay_," Cyram said, sitting down next to me. I grabbed the remote, which was resting on the table in front of us. Just as I was going to hit the input button, I heard a slight tapping on the roof. Similar tapping noises were heard against the windows, and the side of the house. I handed the remote to Lindsay, and got off of the couch to go inspect outside.

I pushed the curtains slightly out of the way, and noticed just how dark it was outside. It was nearly pitch black, and I could only see because the street lights were on. It was raining outside. Not a complete down pour, but a little more than a drizzle. The SWAT truck was still parked right outside of the house, but I couldn't see any SWAT members patrolling the streets. This could be because it was too dark and they weren't visible, or because they weren't patrolling the streets.

"What's the matter?" Lindsay quietly asked.

"It's raining," I said, putting the curtains back and returning to my seat. _The perfect horror story…_

"Don't worry about it," she said, just as I sat down. _Agreed._

"Right," I said. She handed the remote back to me, and I turned on the local news channel. The anchors were currently talking about world events. Nothing about zombies or the like. However, on the bottom information bar, it said a special report on the zombie massacre would be coming up at nine. Nine o'clock seemed to be the time where the news would have their big time reports. I don't know why they had this sudden movement, but that's just the way it is. The time was now 8:52 P.M. _Eight more minutes... Wonder why they called it a massacre… Hopefully, they were over exaggerating like with the Boston Massacre… _

"Well, anyone gotta use the bathroom?" I asked, nearly laughing out loud at myself. Whenever I used a history reference, I always seemed to find it funny… Even if it was to myself.

"No."

"Nope," Lindsay and Cyram said, nearly in unison.

"Alright… I must," I said, getting off of the couch. I walked out of the living room, and entered the bathroom. I closed the door completely, before I turned the light on, which was a very rare practice of me. I quickly relieved myself, and went back into the living room. Sitting down in my seat, I noticed that not even a minute went by, and they started to talk about the weather. The weatherman that was talking was probably the only news caster that I abhorred. He had thick, lack hair, with his brown eyes behind a pair of normal sized glasses. His skin was slightly tanned, and he was a little shorter than I.

I hated him because he would go on and talk about things that had nothing to deal with the weather, tell really corny jokes that don't even make me smirk, and just be an overall asshole. I rarely listened to what he was actually saying, and just looked at the background. According to the chart, it's not supposed to stop raining until tomorrow. Thunderstorms were at a seventy-five percent chance. The rain would start getting harder quickly. Flood warnings are low, but we should be aware. _Son of a… Well, like you always say, the weathermen are wrong more times than they are right… I mean, you think today, with all the modern technology they have, they would get at least get it right fifty percent of the time… Right? Nope. Well, hopefully Mr. Asshole is wrong yet again. _

"With all this rain, maybe the zombies will go away!" the weatherman said as his final statement before he let the other two anchors take over. Immediately, he began doing his loud cackle after one of his 'jokes'. The anchors let out a really, really forced chuckle. The male anchor, however, had a look of disgust on his face.

"Alright, that's all that we have for you on the world events and weather. Now, we will be having an hour long report on just what is happening around town. See you tomorrow," the female anchor said. They immediately cut to a commercial break, which should be short, seeing how it is 8:59 P.M. We sat in silent anticipation, as the minute went on. I was staring at the clock, waiting for it to turn. A sound of thunder and a flash of lighting broke the silent anticipation, making Lindsay nearly jump off of the couch.

"That was – " Lindsay was cut off by the sudden darkness that covered us all. Another sound of thunder and the flashing lights of lighting filled my senses. Everything was dark…

"What… The… Fuck…?" Cyram said, nearly screaming it.

"Okay… Okay… I have a flashlight somewhere in my room," I said aloud. I was really thinking to myself. Lindsay was muttering 'oh my God, oh my God' really fast to herself. The sound of thunder and a quick flash of lighting filled my senses yet again, and I could see that everything in the living room was the same. "Okay… I'm going to go try to find the flashlight… You two stay here," I said to them. It was quite obvious that they probably wouldn't of came with me, anyway…

"Please hurry," Lindsay said, as I got up off of the couch. I knew the dimensions of the house pretty damn well, since I nearly designed the entire house myself. I could navigate through this house with a blind fold. But, it's just the thought of what I could bump into that made my heart nearly jump out of my chest. Along with the rapid increase of my heart beats, I started to sweat, though it was quite cold in the house. For precautionary reasons, I pulled the revolver out of left pocket, holding it with my left hand and having the barrel point straight to the ground. I took a step forward, and my knee collided with the table. This made a slight banging noise, and I heard Lindsay gasp.

"That was me… Don't worry," I said reassuringly to the two of them. I heard a slight sigh of relief, as I turned my body left, not taking another step foot forward. Another flash of lighting lit up the room for a second. I could quickly grasp that the basement door was open, along with the bathroom door. The two doors being open completely blocked the path. I would have to close at least one of them to get to the bedroom. _Well… That's going to be a pain in the ass…_

I had also noticed that there was nothing in front of me, for another three or so steps. I took one step forward, raising my right arm straight out just incase I had miscalculated. I took another step forward, and began feeling around for the doorway. I reached out my left arm, still holding the revolver, but all the I could feel was the air. I felt as if I were exiled to a dark, wall-less room. _Nothing…_

Some of the sweat started to trickle down my cheek. With my left hand, I began to brush as much I as I could off. I took a small step to my left, and I raised my left arm out to the side, feeling for the wall. The gun made a slight clank, as it collided with the edge of the doorway. I didn't hear a gasp this time, so I didn't bother saying anything. Another flash of lighting filled the house. I noticed that I was standing directly in the doorway, and the two open doors were five feet or so in front of me.

I took two very quick steps forward, and stopped, as I felt the basement door with my right hand. I struggled to find the handle of the door, searching all over for it. Another flash of lighting filled the room, and I noticed that I was no where near the handle. Right when I grabbed the handle, I heard the door downstairs creek open. _Err…?_

I stood as still as a deer in headlights. I could feel more sweat trickling down my face. To my knowledge, the cellar doors weren't open. There was no other way into the basement that we wouldn't have seen. I stood here a moment, staring down the darkened stair way. C'mon, lighting… Flash… C'mon… _Actually, it would probably be better for you not to know what is down there until you get the flashlight… _

I could of sworn I heard footsteps going across the floor. I wasn't sure if this was my imagination, or if there was something actually down there... Waiting… Staring up at me with a smile on his face. Maybe an assassinator with a pair of night vision goggles, looking at my face through the scope on his sniper rifle, snickering at me. _Shut the hell up and close the door…_

I quickly closed the door, not letting it slam, and put the chain lock on it silently, not wanting to get the others startled. A brushed off the sweat on my face with my shirt. Just when I finished doing this, another flash of lighting filled the room. _Oh… Thanks, Mother Nature… Right on time!_

However, I did notice that I could get to my bedroom without closing the bathroom door. So, I walked forward with my right arm out, waiting for it to touch the wall. I walked quite quickly, compared to before. My finger tips felt the wall after about three steps. I turned to the right, facing into the doorway of my bedroom. My guess would be that the bed was ten steps away, but there was always a margin for error…

Another flash of lighting filled the house. I noticed that curtains on the windows were messed up. _Umm… Didn't you spot that Lindsay fixed them up earlier…? Hmm… First, we got weird noises coming from the basement, and next we got messed up curtains. Well… The only argument other than an intruder in your house would be that Lindsay was in here for an extensive period of time arranging her clothes and other valuables from her suitcases. But, it's not like Cyram or you came back in… Hmm… Interesting… _

Another flash of lighting struck, and I could clearly see the rest of the bedroom. My guess was that the flashlight was in a difficult spot to get it: Buried somewhere in the nightstand. _You really should of considered putting a flashlight in every room, or carrying one of those small ones on you at all times… Either that, or having that battery powered flashlight on your revolver… That would have been sweet…_

I put my right arm out, feeling for the bed. I lowered my hand up to about where my knees are. I took six small and slow steps, still feeling around for the bed. Another flash of lighting filled the room, and I noticed that the bed was an inch or two away from my fingertips.

Just as I put my hand on the bed, I heard a slight creaking from the basement stairs. I grabbed the blankets on the bed tightly, and squeezed hard. _It's just your mind playing with you… Just get the damn flashlight…_

A drop of sweat trickled off of my face, and landed on the bed. I heard another creak on the steps, this one sounded as if it was on the top step. What I really wanted to do was open the basement door, and see if it was my mind or if it was the real thing. A real intruder, whether it be a zombie or a human. There was no way that it was a zombie, now that I think of it. I hadn't heard any moans, and it would have been banging on the door by now. Also, it showed its intelligence by not moving much when I was looking down the stairs, although he probably wouldn't be able to see in the dark, either.

Regardless of what was behind that door, I rolled across the bed. Seeing as I've done this so many times, I could time it so perfectly that I wouldn't even need to see to do so. I got off of the bed, and crouched down next to the nightstand, brushing off more sweat with my shirt. It was quite hotter in this room than what it was in the hallway. _Perhaps a window was open in the kitchen or something?_

There were three drawers on the nightstand. I don't remember which one held the flashlight, however. I put the revolver down on the bed, and I felt for the handles of the drawers. I had felt each of the three handles, but I went with my first guess: The top drawer.

I opened it up as far as it would go, and I began rummaging through it. I began to feel a variety of pens and pencils and some other objects that I couldn't make out. A flash of lighting quickly lit up the room. The flashlight was nowhere to be seen inside of the first drawer.

I moved my hand down a couple of inches, and pulled the second drawer fully open. I was nearly praying for lighting to strike down, as I started to move through the drawer. I felt a variety of notepads, papers, and other old collectables that I had in there. Apparently, the flashlight was in the third drawer…

Suddenly, I started to think about the noise I have been making. The possible intruder could have gotten out of the basement by now. Yes, I did chain the door, but it was extremely easy to take the chain off from the other side of the door. A zombie, however, wouldn't be able to figure that out. _There is no intruder! _

The front doors blasted open. I heard Lindsay screaming, and voices talking under her screams. I grabbed the revolver, and jumped over the bed, ready for anything. From the hallway, I could spot a number of flashlights moving all around the wall. This provided me with some light, as I walked through the hallway. I noticed that the basement door was shut, but the chain was hanging loosely off the lock. _Son of a… I guess there was an intruder…_

I held the gun out straight, as I made my way over towards the living room. It was obvious that humans were in the living room and not zombies or monsters. I had three bullets in the chamber, and the knife was in the hands of Cyram. Lindsay had little to no combat skills. _Alright… How are you going to do this… Don't try to be a Rambo type figure, and dive across the hallway, shooting three bullets in and killing eight guys… Be practical._

Lindsay suddenly stopped her screams. I could hear someone sweet talking to her. I couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, but I believe I heard something along the lines of, "Don't worry, we aren't here to hurt you. Are you alright?" This led me to believe that it was the SWAT team, but I could never be so sure. _Just pop around the corner and the point the revolver at one of them. If they don't look like the SWAT team, well… You know what to do. _

I had my back against the wall, trying not to have any part of my body be seen by the intruders. The sweat was making my forehead itch, and I desperately wanted to wipe off the sweat. I heard footsteps go across the living room, right towards the hallway. He came out of the living room, facing the kitchen. His back was literally inches from my hands. I couldn't make out any of the words that were on the back of his vest. _Get him in a head lock and hold him hostage._

I wrapped my right arm around him tightly in a head lock, and put the revolver right against his head. Every flashlight suddenly shinned right in my face. I didn't say anything, I just looked at them right in the eye.

"What the hell are you doing?" the man who was close by Lindsay asked. I could see the words 'SWAT' written across his chest. "We're with SWAT," he explained. Lindsay looked back at me, with the look of immense fear on her face. Slight tears seemed to have formed under her eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said, letting go of the guy. "I didn't think you were with SWAT," I explained. The SWAT member who I had gotten in the head lock grasped his throat, and walked towards the rest of the group. He was slightly coughing.

"It's okay. I can understand your actions. Honestly, I would have done the same thing. Is everything alright in here?" the SWAT member who was with Lindsay said, walking towards me. He seemed to be the commander of this squad. I could spot the SWAT member who I had talked to earlier in the day in the background.

"Well, the power is out, and I could of sworn I heard someone walking on the stairs in the basement," I explained.

"Okay, I'll go check that out," he said. There were five SWAT members in the house currently.

"Wait," I said, just before he went to open the door. "I put the chain lock on the door." The man looked at the chain lock, which was off of the lock.

"Shit," he said. "Alright, we're going done. Two stay up on the first floor with these people, and two come with me." Two guys walked over with their automatics resting on their shoulder. They were ready for anything. The two guys that stayed on the first floor were the guy I talked to before, and the one I had choked. They stood in the living room, looking over us. The other group headed tactically down the basement stairs, searching for any clues.

"Let's check the other rooms," the SWAT member who I had talked to before said. He nodded at me as he walked by, with a slight grin on his face. I sat down on the couch between Lindsay and Cyram. Lindsay had a flashlight in her hand. _Guess a SWAT guy gave her that…_

"You guys okay?" I asked them, clearing the sweat from my forehead.

"No, I am good," Cyram said. His hands were clutched around the handle of the knife.

"What about you?" I said, looking at Lindsay.

"I got scared there for a moment… But, I'm okay… You?" she said, clearing the tears off of her face.

"Yeah, I got scared there for a minute, too. But, did you guys hear anybody walking around in the kitchen or anything?" I asked, trying to find out more about that incident.

"I didn't hear a thing," Lindsay said, with a worried look on her face.

"Cyram?"

"Not really, only heard you closing the doors, and putting the chain lock on the basement door... My stuff is in there… But okay, than…"

"Son of a… What about the back door? Did you hear that open?"

"Nope," Lindsay said.

"Not really," Cyram said.

"Why are you so worried?" Lindsay asked.

"Well… I could of sworn I heard someone walking around in the basement as I was walking towards the bedroom. So, I closed the basement door and put the chain lock on it. Then, as I was in the bedroom, I could of sworn I heard the basement stairs creaking. I wasn't sure if it was my mind messing with me, but then, when I looked at the door again, the chain was off," I explained to them.

"Well… It couldn't of been a monster… We would of heard them," Lindsay said.

"Yes… But, it could have been a person hiding in the basement. They could have done something down there, or maybe they were trying to kill us or something. Maybe they messed around with the fuse, and turned off the power."

"That does not seem entirely possible... Where as, the entire street is without power," Cyram said.

"Hmm… Well, I don't know. All I know is that the chain lock was taken off by someone." I heard one of the SWAT member's radios go off.

"Roger that," I heard one of them say. They ran out of the kitchen, and headed down the basement stairs. I stood up, and nearly went with them.

"No… Stay with us," Lindsay said, standing up in front of my way. She put on a sad face that I just couldn't defy. I sat back down on the couch, and Lindsay did, too. We all sat on the couch, trying to listen to what was going on downstairs. Waiting in another silent anticipation to know why back up was called down. The only noise that could be heard, however, was the light tapping of the rain drops against the windows. I blankly stared at the window, with my back hunched over, and my arms hanging out in front of me… Waiting… Waiting for that gun shot. Waiting for all hell to break loose. Waiting…

**I was a little shaky on the ending… Meh… So, comment on that, too, please. **


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